


Zenku

by KiraKyuu



Category: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Firefly, Freelancer, Harry Potter - Fandom, Mass Effect
Genre: AU, Multi-Crossover/Fusion, Violence, bad language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-30
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-11-13 04:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/499386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiraKyuu/pseuds/KiraKyuu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zenku: vanguard, precursor, forerunner, leader; the whole body. Only working as one, will the Universe survive what is coming. Adhara - as she called herself when Shepard first met her - is the one to help with that. -:Originally posted on FF.net:-<br/>CURRENTLY UNDERGOING REVISION</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Start

**A small timeskip or a scene change is** Z-Z _Thoughts_

**A larger timeskip/SC is** -Z-                                         "Speaking in common language."

**A complete scene or CoF change is** -Z-Z-                   _"Foreign language/emphasis."_

" _-Radio/Comms.-_

_  
_

**(This story is a Multiple Universe Crossover. The** **first chapter is the entirety of the first game and the beginning of ME2, no other Universes introduced just yet.)**

**Shepard in this is a Soldier, Colonist, and both Sole Survivor/War Hero. My excuse is that Shep was on Elysium for a psychological leave, ended up being a hero. He also has the default appearance (and blue eyes, the bright bright blue eyes)**

**And warnings. . . Well, cursing. Gore. Alcohol. Violence. Characters being out of character. Et cetera. Oh, and it's all unbeta-ed.**

_**Bully** _ **by** **Shinedown,** _**White Rabbit** _ **by Egypt Central, and** _**Heartlines**_ **by Florence and the Machine** **are my recommended songs for this chapter.**

**Let the story begin! (Oh! And, Adhara is** _**not** _ **an OC. . . You'll find out later, at the end of this chapter!)**

**. . .**

"Fucking shit-headed assholes! Let me out so I can rip off that damn Turian's head!" A loud crack filled the room. Commander John Shepard exchanged a look with Wrex and Garrus. "That one doesn't sound too happy with someone," Garrus needlessly pointed out.

"You godsforsaken bastards! Let. Me. OUT!" The last three words were punctuated by three loud cracks – they were hitting the glass of their cell. When Shepard's team got to the correct cell, they were shocked by what they saw: a diminutive, pale skinned, gaunt Human woman with bloodied fists. Her hair was black, short and messy, bangs falling over her right eye. Her left was a vibrant garnet colour.

"You lot here to stop that bastard Arterius?" she asked, eying them.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy. Who are you?" Shepard asked, not bothering to hide his suspicion. Hopefully she wasn't insane.

"Grimm. Adhara Grimm. Can you let me out, or should I resume my attempts to break the door?" Grimm asked dryly.

Shepard glanced at his companions, then began to hack the cell's lock.

"You sure that's wise? She could be Indoctrined," Garrus pointed out, shifting to eye the woman suspiciously.

John shook his head, "If she causes problems, Wrex can take care of her. Besides, she's more likely to get the drop on us if we leave her here." The Turian had to concede to that. It was best to keep enemies close, after all.

"So, can you shoot, Grimm?" Shepard asked when the door slid open, offering his pistol.

"Can't with these hands. Soon as I finish unsealing my omnitool, I can use that, though," the woman replied with a shrug.

The Commander frowned slightly, taking a closer look at her wounded hands. The knuckle bones were showing, making the blue-eyed man wince sympathetically.

"We've got some spare medigel," the Commander said, pulling out a spare pack.

"Might be a good idea. Can you hand me – Hey! I can –"

"Take a good look at your hands and tell me you can use them well enough to do this," Shepard growled, his eyes flashing challengingly. Grimm narrowed her garnet eyes at the tall man. They were sure she was going to continue to be obstinate, but then she shrugged and held out her hands as if it were her intention all along.

"Get on with it then. We're burning daylight." Wrex gave an amused chuckle. He liked this female.

–Z –

"Damn it, Shepard! The next time someone decides to strangle you, I'm bloody well letting them if it means _I_ get hurt." Adhara was most definitely _not_ pouting as she limped along next to the Commander, grumbling under her breath about crazy ass Turians, or shooting the wound in her right thigh death glares for existing. And, of course, she was in no way trying to cheer up the depressed Commander, who had been forced to leave behind a woman he called 'Ash'. _Right. You should work on your denial,_ Adhara thought angrily. She had become . . . _attached_ to the man, Void only knew why. Adhara had just met him, after all, but then again, he had an odd charisma about him.

"You're the one who put yourself in the fight, despite having no weapons or kinetic barriers," Shepard pointed out, her attempt at humour falling short. Not that that would stop her.

" _Then_ who'd save you from crazy Indoctrined ex-Spectres, hm?" She retorted, offering a teasing half smirk.

The Commander finally let out a small grin in return, his demeanor relaxing by a tiny amount.

"Has anyone given _any_ thought as to why _she_ is the only Human we found in those cells? One of two that managed to 'resist' Indoctrination, I might add!"

Grimm glanced at the man who spoke, tilting her head slightly in some confusion. Why was he being so hostile to her? What had _she_ done? Perhaps he had been involved with the woman that had been left to die. . . "You shouldn't question what your Commander has chosen to do, Lieutenant. At least, not if you trust his judgment," she admonished him, raising her eyebrows at the man. The Lieutenant – Adhara thought she had heard him called 'Kaiden' – flushed and started sputtering indignantly.

"Enough. Grimm has had ample opportunity to either let us die or kill us outright. She hasn't done anything to harm _any_ of us," Shepard asserted, slipping back into the battle-hardened Commander role.

_"-Commander, you have a wave from Udina. Claims it's important.-"_

That, if Adhara was correct, would be the Normandy's pilot, 'Joker'. He didn't seem to like Udina, who was the Human Ambassador on the Citadel. Grimm glanced at Shepard, who sighed heavily.

"Patch it through, Joker." He didn't seem to want to deal with the Ambassador either. She wondered if something had happened between them.

_"-Aye, aye, Commander,-"_ Joker replied.

_"-Shepard? I should thank you for locating Agent Grimm. . . You're to escort her to Arcturus Station and hand her over to the awaiting men.-"_

Adhara bristled dangerously. "Who the _fuck_ are you to order me to be 'handed over'? You're out of your jurisdiction, _Ambassador_!" she bit out, a growl like quality to her voice.

" _-Under section eleven paragraph seven of the Charter, you are –"_

The woman cut him off, "Again, you are out of your jurisdiction. I am not under your control, and you have no right to invoke the Charter, let alone to _me_. The Commandant _himself_ gave me the mission that has now become joint with Spectre Shepard's own." The occupants of the room were looking between her, the Commander, and Udina's hologram like an odd tennis match. Even Shepard seemed confused.

Udina looked like he had been force fed a combination of Varren shit and Vorcha piss. _"-Very well. I'll be reporting your failure to comply with orders to the Commandant.-"_ The holo fizzed out of existence before anyone could retort.

"So. . . You're a Phoenix?" Shepard asked after a moment of silence.

Grimm nodded once. "You were a prospective one, correct? I was friends with the Mercury that evaluated you."

The commander's eyebrow rose at that. "I was evaluated by a Mercury? Huh. I was told she was only a Gold." Adhara hummed softly, gnawing on her lip.

"No, she was Mercury at that point," she said with conviction.

"So. . you're a . . .?" he prodded cautiously. Usually the ranks were closely guarded.

"Me? Onyx." Adhara shrugged slightly. "I got caught because I was too preoccupied looking for a friend of mine and I had let my guard down," she explained with a scowl.

"Sorry, but what's a Phoenix?" the Quarian – Tali'Zorah – asked, confusion obvious. "Phoenix is basically the Human's equivalent to the elite of the elite of the elite. Very hush hush, usually," Kaiden explained with a frown.

"I'll be joining you on your 'eliminate Saren Arterius' mission . . . I had been assigned to watch the Spectres, evaluate if any of them could make good allies. Arterius is very much on my shit list for boxing me up and making me listen to those damn whispers," Adhara explained with a slight shrug.

"Whispers?" the Asari Liara T'Soni asked.

"'S what I heard. Of course, I was the only one to listen at the time for the things out of place. Thoughts that weren't mine, I mean." That drew even more confusion.

"May I see?" Liara asked out of curiosity.

"You don't want to do that," Kaiden and Shepard said at the same time, shaking their heads. "Why?" "The Phoenix are trained to resist Asari Melding. It wasn't intentional, of course, but once we found out that we could, well, levels above Apprentice are trained as such," Adhara elaborated, "I believe the most common affect of a Meld after training is brain death for both parties." That earned horrified looks all around, even Wrex seeming to be appalled.

"What if the person is _fond_ of Asari?" Garrus asked, seemingly confused. "Then they either don't advance past the Apprentice ranks or find a new _fondness_ ," she replied, "It's for security reasons that we ask them to choose." "I don't believe you. Asari are compatible by the nervous system of any sentient creature," Liara said stiffly.

"I've had five other Phoenix – four Journeymen and one Master – attempt a Meld. None of the Asari involved were Ardat Yakshi, yet in every case the Phoenix involved ended up dead or worse, while the Asari became just plain dead. I can't divulge much else on this," Adhara snapped angrily, then spun on her heel and left. She was _sick_ of people questioning her.

Z–Z

"So, you're the infamous Joker." The off-handed comment made the pilot start in surprise.

"How the hell can you do that?" Joker shot at the woman, glancing down at her wounded leg.

" _Lots_ of practice," she replied dryly, flopping down into the co-pilot's chair and taking a quick glance at their trajectory. They were headed to the Citadel.

"Anything in particular you wanted, Ninja-Bird?" Joker asked after a little while. He knew she wasn't scheduled to co-pilot at all. Grimm shrugged slightly.

"Had to get away from Alenko. Since he found out I was Biotic . . ." A theatrical shudder passed through her frame, making the Flight-Lieutenant chuckle at her expense.

There was a short pause before Grimm held out her hand. "Adhara Grimm," she offered.

"Joker Moreau," he replied, shaking her hand. The woman held his hand loosely, as though afraid of breaking his hand. He wondered if she had always been like that or if she knew about his Vrolik's. Either way, she made no mention of it, turning out to be pretty decent company for the sarcastic man.

–Z–

Alenko was a stalker. He followed Adhara around like a lost puppy when he wasn't too busy following Shepard. She wanted _so badly_ to hit him, if not for being such a stalker, then for complaining so goddamned much over his Biotic training. Unfortunately, she couldn't do as such. There was a reason she was so careful with other people, alien or not. The woman could seriously injure them. Grimm had a number of genetic modifications, some of which Phoenix used, some of which weren't very widely used at all. The main one that could do more harm then good was the muscle-density modifications, resulting in the fact that she was a _lot_ stronger then a woman her size should be.

Considering how long Adhara had fought, though, the modifications and alterations to make her a better fighter and generally harder to kill usually did less harm then they would have for someone who was more interested in a home life, or a life outside of war. For the woman, they were virtually her bread and butter. If there was one thing Adhara had been good at even at a young age, it was fighting. The number of scars her body possessed – most faded greatly over time – attested to that fact.

– Z–Z–

"I fucking _hate_ politicians," Grimm growled, flopping down on the deckplates next to Joker's chair. It had become a favorite of her spots to take a break at.

"You don't wanna go with Shepard? He's likely to tell Udina off," the helmsman said in curiosity.

"No. . . An old friend of mine promised me a tour, but since Saren got a hold of me, I haven't been able to take him up on it."

Joker frowned, an odd twinge forming in his chest, one that he really didn't want to decipher. "You, er, can't get a hold of him?

She scrubbed at her face, a weary sigh falling from her mouth. "No. He – . . . He's a Spectre. I checked the frequencies and feeds he usually uses for messages, but none of them have been used recently. He's probably on a long term mission." The Phoenix didn't sound as if she really believed that, though, her worry all too obvious to Joker.

"Any other places you could check for him? Maybe for messages?" Joker questioned, frowning. He didn't like it when Adhara was worried. He liked her usual sarcasm or friendliness.

"Could have sent a message to my Phoenix terminal on Earth, but it'll have to wait until after I finish this up," she replied with a shrug and another sigh.

"Were you and him . . . ?" The crippled pilot trailed off, but only got a confused look from uncomprehendingly. "You know. . . _together_?" That drew a shocked look from Adhara.

" _What_? No! As attractive some species can be, I don't usually find them . . . _sexually_ attractive. I prefer Humans. . . Or at least having a Human-ish appearance and, you know, _hair._ I like hair. Very much," she stumbled over her words awkwardly as she tried to explain, making Joker snicker slightly.

"Alright, alright, calm down, Ninja-Bird. It was a simple question, no need to get flustered," he said with a smirk in her direction. Adhara stuck her tongue out at him, a childish pout on her face.

It was only with him that she acted so free around, something Joker took great pride in. Even with Shepard, she had more restraint. Of course, Shepard was more of a serious man, and most of his time with Adhara was on missions. The Commander was usually too occupied running the _Normandy_ and writing reports to visit too much with his crew, though he did try to at least once after each mission. That usually equaled out to around one visit every three days for the crew.

With a slight shake of his head, Joker refocused on Adhara, who was regaling him with one of the missions she had been on, where she had accidentally shot a Batarian in the junk, causing the rest of his squad to surrender in fear of her doing the same to them. That almost made Joker break a rib from laughter alone.

–Z–Z–

"Who votes for taking the Mako into the huge ancient tunnels?" Grimm chimed, glancing at her three companions. John had decided to take Wrex, Tali, and herself down onto Ilos, which, in fact, was only possible because of Joker's 'pure awesomeness' . . . Adhara would admit she had been fully prepared to stop the Mako from crashing if it had come to that, no matter if she had to reveal her powers or not.

"Right. Only if your driving, Grimm," Tali replied, earning a guffaw from Wrex and an almost pout from Shepard.

_My driving isn't_ that _bad,_ the Commander thought with a faint scowl under his helm.

Z–Z

"This isn't Geth tech," Grimm said, tapping the distinctly yellow force field thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked at the same time Tali asked, "How can you tell?" Grimm heaved a sigh.

"You ever notice the colour differences between all the tech we use? How Prothean interfaces seem to always have a green appearance? Geth usually has a blue-white, ours orange. It's a difference it the matrices and codes, in how they operate. It's usually a minor thing, fixed with a little bit of work, but usually pointless outside of aesthetic preferences," the Phoenix explained, wondering if anyone had ever realized that fact aside from the Phoenix and a few of the more tech-savvy Humans.

"I've never seen a differently coloured omni-tool," Shepard said in confusion. Adhara pulled up her own, typing a list of things into it, causing it to turn an odd vibrant green. "Oh."

"The Phoenix have made many modifications to common technology," she said in lieu of an explanation.

"Shepard! I found an opening!" Wrex called from the other side of the Mako.

"Maybe it's a way around?" Tali asked hopefully.

"Hopefully," Shepard agreed. He hoped Saren was still here.

Z–Z

As it turned out, it was an elevator leading to a room with one path leading to an actual working Prothean AI, albeit damaged. The first thing it said startled them all.

"Confirmed survivor. Female. Diluted heritage. State your designation."

"Uh. . ." Tali and Adhara exchanged confused looks. A survivor of _what_?

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked cautiously. The AI's distortions stilled, and then a visible, four fingered clawed hand pointed directly at a startled Adhara.

"Your designation," the AI ordered.

"A-Adhara Grimm. What's this about? A survivor of _what_?" she asked in confusion.

"What is your age, Adhara Grimm?" the AI demanded.

_What the fuck is with this thing?_ were their collective thoughts. Why was it questioning Adhara? Why was it calling her a survivor? Surely she wasn't _Prothean_!

"Twenty-five. You still haven't told me what you wanted!" Adhara said angrily.

"Please tell the truth. You possess Professor Verrell's experimental cybernetic implants. I will explain if you are honest," the AI replied.

There was a long pause, Adhara shifting to glance at Shepard, worrying her lip with her teeth. "Two hundred years as of fourteen standard days ago," she said softly, drawing shock and disbelief from her team mates. Before anyone could say anything, the AI spoke up again.

"Truth. Thank you. I am the AI Vigil. You are the last known survivor of the Prothean extinction. Please come forward to collect the data disks."

"Data disks? On what?" Shepard asked, eying the AI suspiciously.

"Why, on the Reapers and her heritage, of course. A Prothean should not be unaware of their heritage and culture." _That_ earned even more shock.

"I'm a _Prothean?_ I look just like a Human!" Adhara protested. Again, Vigil's distortions stilled for a beat.

"Protheans discovered a race of 'Humans,' as you call them, on the planet designated Myrrdin forty-seven cycles before the Reapers arrived. They were called Wizen and possessed untold of abilities. Many developed a form of Biotics as well. Most were found, and taken in and became Prothean. . . Please take the data disks."

With shaking hands, Adhara took them, losing herself in her thoughts. It was. . . unbelievable. Complete and utter bullshit. It had to be. The AI had to be insane. She wasn't a 'Wizen,' she _wasn't_ a Prothean!

_Of course, what else_ could _you be? Dying about as well as a cockroach or a Vorcha, staying in your prime even after having birthed three children and the Verell implants – the silvery material. What else would you be?_ her mind hissed at her treacherously. She had always wanted to be _normal_ , to not have to worry about people wanting to dissect her or hate her for living so long. Adhara had _never_ wanted to live this long.

"'Ra?" Grimm looked up at Shepard, her hands still shaking.

"Let's go get Saren," the Commander said with a reassuring grin. He wasn't going to press. He would let her tell him, when she figured more out.

–Z–

It was only as they raced to the deactivating Conduit that they realized just how powerful Adhara's Biotics were. An odd dark purple-blue triangle shaped field surrounded the Mako, creating a smooth and direct path to the Conduit while simultaneously holding off the fire of multiple Geth Armaments.

Adhara also radiated the same sort of energy, her eyes closed in concentration. The path built and collapsed as they went, their rear being covered as well as their front and sides. This level of Biotics was unheard of, even in Matriarchs of the Asari. Justicars had something similar they could do, but no one really found it necessary to find out if Biotics could do this sort of thing. Why would they? There had never been a situation like this before. The Phoenix let the energy dissipate as they finally hit the Conduit.

–Z–

As the squad went up the elevator, Wrex was the one to ask Adhara just how strong her Biotics were.

"I could do that three more times," she admitted, slightly unsure. She wasn't used to expending so much energy at once, though.

"Do Phoenix get more training to be able to do that?" Shepard asked in curiosity. Adhara shook her head.

"Not usually. It's. . . random, usually. Some Phoenix are able to utilize Biotics like that, but. . . We haven't had much to go on for trying to find out why some can, and others can not," she explained, a slight frown marring her face. "But as it is somewhat similar to Stasis or a Barrier, in theory, so I suppose a Biotic with sufficient power _could_ be trained to do something similar."

Before she could elaborate, the elevator slid to a halt, drawing their attention back onto the matter at hand.

"Remember, let me try to talk to Saren. He could be like Benezia," Shepard said, drawing Adhara's confusion, but also her acceptance. She didn't know what the Matriarch had to do with Saren, but she'd ask after Saren was dead.

Adhara followed John for a little while, but carefully slid into the shadows to provide some covering fire, if necessary, when Tali and Wrex flanked Shepard. She did not pay much attention to what Shepard said, specifically, and as such was completely shocked when Saren pointed a pistol at his head and pulled the trigger. The Turian had ended his own life.

After waiting a few moments to be sure he was dead (and putting a round or two into him with the Commander's consent) Adhara looked up towards the fighting outside of the Tower. Shepard had ordered the saving of the _Destiny Ascension_ , knowing that the Councilors – and everyone aboard the flagship – were important. It would also hopefully endear the alien races to Humanity.

Suddenly, everything started shaking and a loud, angry screeching echoing in her head and around her. Red lightning arched off of Saren's corpse, and the entirety of the Tower shook as Sovereign raged above them.

Shepard and Wrex were knocked down next to her, Tali being trapped above them, unable to use her shotgun but trying to provide support with tech attacks. Shepard cursed as the Saren-Sovereign stood, a roar leaving its non-existent throat. Sovereign leapt at Adhara, flinging her into a wall as it launched itself at Shepard.

Wrex intercepted the Thing, crashing to the ground and struggling to keep it pinned. Its lack of an actual body made it too difficult, however, resulting in it slipping away to clamber on the walls like a Stalker Geth. Adhara scrambled to try and hit it with her Biotics, scowling when it moved at the last second.

"'Ra! Get it pinned in one of those boxes, if ya can!" Shepard shouted, following Sovereign and trying to hit it with his assault rifle. The woman growled, then slowly inhaled, exhaled, settling her emotions. She had to get this right. She could not fail.

"Wrex! _Move!_ " Adhara shouted. The Krogan had been closing in on Sovereign, but moved back when she yelled at him. A 'box' of sorts snapped into place around Saren's frame, making it growl and try to escape. Inhuman howls and hisses emanated from Sovereign, a low angry rumble coming from the Sovereign's ship-body above them.

"How many grenades we got?" Shepard asked, studying the cage in curiosity. Wherever Sovereign hit, near black and almost emerald hexagonal designs radiated out, overlapping and dancing together.

"I've got three," Wrex grunted.

"Six," Adhara hissed out, her eyebrows creasing in concentration. Shepard shook his head. Adhara had always liked explosions.

"So, that makes eleven total. Think that'd be enough, 'Ra?" he asked, tilting his head at Saren's frame.

"If not . . . I could try becoming a trash compactor," she replied with a dark grin.

"How do you plan on getting them in there?" Wrex demanded, his eyes narrowing. Without Shepard having to ask, Adhara made another box next to Wrex, the top missing.

"Pile 'em in. Quickly. This is taking a lot of concentration," the Phoenix bit out.

_The sheer force this thing is hitting with. . . Shouldn't be possible with how scrawny it is,_ she thought angrily. Angry at the fact that it really had been way too long since she last had a _real_ tough opponent; angry that Saren had managed to capture her, then die before she could get at him; angry that she had been forced onto the Citadel before her godsdamned tour; angry that she had been an _alien_ without even realizing it. She had known the implants, the silvery stuff, was not any Human creation, of course, but this entire thing, her being 'Prothean', being 'Wizen', was just Fate fucking with her, _yet again_. Go fuckin' figure.

Shepard cautiously removed Adhara's grenades from a little pouch on her waist, attached with a hook instead of a magnetic clamp like he'd been expecting. Her posture told him she was well and truly pissed, but he couldn't figure out what it was aimed at. Once all the explosives were in the box – including a little bit of old C-4 he had on him, just in case – Shepard gave the signal to Adhara, who in turn merged the two boxes, triggering the grenades. Another shield, solid and dark in colour, snapped into place in front of the three as the concussive force spread from the box.

"Not quite dead. . ." Adhara murmured, hands clenching tightly. A second explosion – probably the C-4 – rang out alongside the sound of tortured wails, then the sound of little chunks of metal hitting the floor.

"Done," she stated with a smug grin. The bastard was dead for good, now. He wouldn't be bothering anyone else. There was a low groan from Sovereign above them, resonating through the metal in through their feet and into their bodies. It felt as if they were being shaken from the inside out.

Slowly, their eyes were all drawn to the battle still raging above them. They saw the _Normandy_ loop around for the killing blow and exchanged triumphant looks when Sovereign began to fall to pieces. Adhara suddenly curse.

"We might want to _move_ ," she told them as they realized _where_ a lot of the Reaper would be falling. Almost as one, they all turned and ran back to the lift, but knowing not all of them would make it.

Tali and Wrex were in the lead, but were saved from being crushed by Adhara snapping a shield over them, then over herself and Shepard. What she didn't account for was the deck heaving and twisting beneath them as heavy metal crashed into it, making them all topple over into each other. Adhara hit her head on the deck, briefly falling unconscious.

A few minutes later, Adhara came to, surroundings lit up only by the shield she had managed to maintain. Shepard had pulled off his helmet, his blue eyes focused on her.

"These shields. . ." he started, brushing a hand over it. Her smaller shields were almost viridian in colour, definitely not the typical Biotic blue.

"Yeah," Adhara sighed. She knew what he meant. She had saved ten people of nearly ninety on Akuze with these shields. The Commander had seen them, been shielded by them when she had found him. Of course, at that time she hadn't technically been Adhara Grimm, having to change her name from mission to mission to avoid getting too well known.

"Why were you on Akuze?" Shepard asked softly.

"Suspicious transmissions and a code hidden beneath the distress beacon. I might have stolen a fighter to get there faster, but I still hadn't been in time to stop it all from happening," Adhara explained, just as quietly.

John heaved a sigh, rubbing his face. The older woman silently looked at the twisted metal covering them, trying not to remember the scene of Akuze. Soldiers, flesh melted and torn, some missing whole chunks and body parts. The stench of melting flesh, bodily fluids, and _fear_ had been so prominent. It hadn't been the worst Adhara had seen over the years, but it stuck out.

"You got a companion?" It took the Phoenix a moment to realize that John had spoken, another to decipher what he meant. 'Companion' was the general term, now, for a lover, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, or significant other while not being too rude. He had probably wanted to avoid memories of Akuze and had spouted off the first thing that came to mind.

"No. I did, a long time ago. But, we fell in love and married in a war. Aftermath got him killed by his own people, people who were our enemies," she finally admitted.

"You fell in love with the enemy?" Shepard inquired, honestly surprised. That only happened in fairy tales, or so he had thought.

"We met in a school tournament," Adhara explained with a smile, "Before all the fighting broke out. We kept in contact, afterwards, and after the War started, he joined me." She left out a lot of the details, of course, but it was inevitable. Couldn't very well tell John that it had been a war between Wizards and Witches, now could she?

"They just let him join your – side?" the Commander asked. That didn't sound right.

"It wasn't a full out war, like the World Wars had been. It was more between less then a thousand people on each side, like two tribes fighting. We broke off into little guerrilla strike teams. Mine had a grand total of six people, including me and him. At the time, we were anywhere from seventeen to thirty-three years old, but my team knew me, like yours do you," Adhara pointed out calmly, "If I trusted him, they would trust me to know what I was doing." They had spent a long enough time musing over Adhara's past.

"What did Benezia have to do with Saren?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Benezia had gotten Indoctrined when trying to help Saren see the light," Shepard replied, letting it happen. He knew better then to push on things like this. "She had been able to shove off the Indoctrination for a short time, but we ended up having to kill her."

Adhara snorted. "At least Saren had the decency to do himself in," she mused grimly, "Still, so satisfying to blow up his corpse." The Commander let himself laugh and forget about the cost of the battle for now.

–Z–Z–

"I'm sorry, did you just say she was _blind_ in one eye?" Commander Shepard asked Chakwas, surprised.

"Yup. I have been for _years_ , Commander," Adhara chimed, examining her new scar on the corner of her right eye. The same eye had a jagged mark similar to a Lichtenberg figure, but made of smooth scarred flesh and a jagged pupil. There were no cataracts, because of surgical removal, making it very hard to tell at all. The new scar itself was sort of like a curved trident, from a piece of metal that had hit her at some point in time.

John merely sighed, then turned to Adhara fully. "I came here to ask you something, not to bother you about being half blind," he explained, "I want to know if you would like a post on the _Normandy_ for a while." He had a hopeful look on his face that Adhara knew she couldn't deny.

"Alright. But not for too long. I've been meaning to take a break from missions anyway," she gave in, casting him a grin.

The next day, Adhara Grimm was settled into the co-pilot seat of the _Normandy_ , chatting away to both Joker and John, as happy as she had been for a long time. Even though they dropped off the aliens of Shepard's combat team – Garrus, Liara, Tali, and Wrex – off where they wanted, the Phoenix couldn't find it in herself to be upset. The pair of boys – Joker and John – made things too interesting.

–Z–Z–

It wasn't until they were forced to go out on a patrol near Alchera that things went downhill. In Adhara's mind, all she could think was ' _No!'_. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had fallen in love with the ship and her capable crew. Seeing everything torn apart was almost physically painful.

She moved with Shepard and Joker, trying to get the crippled pilot into the escape pod before the unknown ship could turn about and finish them all off. They didn't make it. Shepard had managed to get Joker into the pod and waved Adhara forward, but the unknown ship had completed its turn. The resulting beam made Sheppard and Adhara shoot in opposite directions, the latter being propelled headfirst into the wall of the escape pod and falling unconscious.

Grimm did not witness Shepard's death, him falling into the atmosphere of the planet called 'Alchera'. She was, in fact, unmoving for the better part of a day, according to Joker's omnitool. He had straightened her out, tried to straighten out an awkwardly bent leg, and generally watched her. The pilot had _seen_ her head twitch, so he was pretty sure he wasn't going to lose Hera, which was good because he wouldn't be able to take it if he had.

Thirty-one hours after the _Normandy_ had burned, Adhara stirred, nearly making him break something trying to get over to her so quickly. "Grimm? Adhara?. . . Hera, can you hear me? C'mon, talk to me, _please_." His voice was hoarse, scratchy from disuse, and cracked a bit as he worried over her, placing her head in his lap even as they spun lightly in zero-gee.

"Joker?" Her voice was very similar to his in quality, but sounded heavenly to the frantic man.

"Thank God you're alright!" he exclaimed, "Shepard. . . The Commander. . ." Joker couldn't make himself say it.

"It'll be alright," she told him, forcing herself to sit up, cracking her neck with a wince, then flexed her legs, much to his surprise.

_Hadn't that leg been broken?_ he thought, unaware of Adhara's own frantic ones, plans forming and being discarded. Not many knew that _she_ knew when a person's time had come. Shepard's had not, and the ethereal plains whispered of things to come, things that Shepard was _needed_ for, to defend against. Her time as Hero was long up, but that didn't mean she wouldn't follow Shepard if he asked.

To ensure that, though, Adhara would have to do some rather unsavory things. Her garnet eyes landed on Joker again. "You'd follow Shepard to Hell, if her were alive, wouldn't you?" she asked, "Trust him no matter who he worked for?"

The pilot frowned at her in confusion. "Well, so long as it's not the Reapers, yeah. . . He's a great commander." The woman sighed softly.

"Death can be an oddly transient thing. . . in this 'verse, with our technology," she said, then leaned in to whisper her plans, despite no one being around to hear them, except Joker and herself.

Terrible times were coming, and they needed a Hero to lead them. That Hero would be John Shepard.

**A/N: I've gotten well into ME2 in my notebook – yes, I write all my fics in a notebook, then type them up whenever I have a chance, which isn't too often. This chapter is about. . . eh, eight and a half notebook pages, widerule, front and back. I've got around forty pages. Working on that =] Also, as you may have realized, Adhara is my femHarry Potter, with limited Metamorphagus abilities. . . And for later chapters, there will be a list of her previous names and appearances at the end.  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, I figured I'd add this in once I fixed up this chapter some; It's not particularly important, and only here to help fill out some curiousity as towards the significance of Phoenix ranking.
> 
> Phoenix Ranks:  
> Commandant - Leader/Grandmaster  
> -Master Ranks-  
> Onyx - Works solo or in small groups  
> Mercury - Small units  
> -Journeymen Ranks-  
> Emerald - Intel gatherers  
> Silver - Trainers - Lead larger units  
> -Adept Ranks-  
> Ruby - Second in commands  
> Gold - Armory/Weapons/Specialists  
> -Apprentice Ranks-  
> Sapphire - Soldier  
> Bronze - Recruit


	2. The Shield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the next bit of Zenku, obviously. Be warned, it actually is very different and might confuse my readers. . . hopefully not too much. Still, if you got questions or concerns, lemme know! Don't sit there like a lump of mold on a chair with no clue what's going on. O.o And according to the ME wiki, I made a minor miscalculation in 'Adhara's' age. . . It was only three years off, so her proper age during ME1 and the start of ME2 was really 203. . . in 2185 (the large chunk of ME2) she'd be 205. . . . Uber long starting AN, sorry.
> 
> REMINDER: Shepard in this is a Soldier, Colonist, and both Sole Survivor/War Hero. He has the default appearance (and blue eyes, the bright bright blue eyes) . . . I forgot to mention he's a 'Paragade'. . . He's a badass, does badass things, but does the right thing and does right by people.
> 
> WARNINGS: Out of Character-ness; Cursing; Oddness in general; mentions of alcohol, sex, etc; Violence; Possibility of Confused timelines by author; unbeta'd-ness.
> 
> Recommended Songs: Chasing the Sun by the Wanted, Castle of Glass by Linkin Park, and Frontline by Pillar
> 
> And to quote one of my favorite shows, Allons-y, everyone! (Oh! And, 'Adhara' is in this. . .kind of. :3 You'll see, and hopefully guess when – or before – she's really introduced to the Normandy's crew.)

_**The Shield** _

**. . .**

If there was one thing Shepard _hadn't_ expected after dying while searching for non-existent Geth activity, was waking up again, let alone waking up because of the terrorists known as Cerberus. He didn't think he was above death. In fact, he was glad that he died and his friends didn't, namely Adhara and Joker.

Now, he was here on this filthy station in the Terminus Systems with a high-on caffeine, squirrel-like Salarian named Mordin Solus and the two Cerberus lackeys Miranda Lawson and Jacob Tyler, trying to recruit a vigilante called 'Archangel'. As they paced slowly at the rear of the mercs, biding their time, they caught snippets of conversation from the others.

"Heard there were some odd things protectin' this bastard," an Asari murmured to her companions. "What do you mean?" a Batarian grunted boredly. " _Mechs_ , you idiot! And not your usual kind, either, these ones are strange as hell!" the Asari bit out in return, obviously not liking his tone. Before the Squad could hear any more, the mercs' leader yelled for everyone to move forward.

As the squad was taking out most of the mercs, getting almost overwhelmed due to their lack of synchronization and the quality of the Blue Sun fighters, the mysterious 'Mecha' – as Archangel had called his 'protector' – finally made her appearance. One moment, there was no one, the next, there was a black armored figure weaving through the crowd of blue-armored mercs, silvered figures flanking the crowd.

When a gunship made its presence known, a giant silver cat-mech took it out with a sharp order from the black-clad woman. Shepard was _sure_ that no one had taken out a gunship that fast before. Archangel, who was really Garrus Vakarian, gave Mecha a warm greeting. The woman peeled off her helm to reveal a silver-eyed albino. On her cheek was a long scar, disrupting her china-doll beauty. She rested her helm on her hip, giving everyone a glance over.

"I think it's about time I introduced myself, Mister Vakarian. I am Ira, codenamed Aegis for the duration of this mission – to assist Commander Shepard in his goal of taking down the Collectors." 'Ira' had a Russian lilt to her voice, oddly suited to her appearance.

"What do you mean, you're to assist me? How do you even know I'm going after the Collectors?" Shepard asked warily. A slight smirk tilted up Ira's mouth. "You think Cerberus is devoid of spies? I am a Phoenix, Shepard. The Phoenix has eyes everywhere."

The Cerberus lackeys weren't too happy to learn of this new information, but Shepard paid them no mind. "Really? How do I know you're telling the truth?" Another, more gentle, smirk lifted Ira's lips. She casually strode over to him, then leaned forward to whisper into his ear.

"Ra couldn't make it, John. Cerberus hates her – and she doesn't like them. Filthy dogs." There was acid in her voice as she glanced over at Lawson and Taylor, obviously agreeing with Adhara's point of view on Cerberus. _If only I could tell him the truth_ , she thought in regret.

"Aegis. . . Latin for 'shield'. Why 'shield'?" Mordin piped up, tilting his head at her. Ira patted Solus' cheek fondly.

"You know why, silly Salarian," Aegis chuckled. "If the situation calls for it, I'm to protect you and your crew from death at all costs, Shepard," she clarified for the Commander. He nodded once in reluctant acceptance.

"Let's get back to the _Normandy_ ," he said, a faint frown on his face. They followed him, not noticing Ira's mech folding into a cube a little bigger than a Human heart and being stored away into a side pouch that definitely shouldn't have been able to fit it.

Z-Z

Aegis concerned Joker. Not because no real explanation was given, no. . . She concerned him because, somehow, the Commander was already attached to her. Joker knew that John had been fond of Adhara – everyone had been – but with how quickly he had bonded to this new woman. . . that really made the pilot edgy. It shouldn't be possible to get that fond, that quickly.

"You don't like me." The statement made Jeff jump, hitting his knee on the console and making him curse in pain. "какать," Ira muttered, "I apologize. I did not mean to startle you." Joker cast her a 'what-the-fuck' look, "What?" She, in turn cast him a confused look, "Was I not clear?"

A frustrated and pained sigh left Jeff's lips, his hands gently massaging his injured knees, "What did you _say_?" It took a moment for Ira to understand.

"It was a curse word, that is all."

Joker grunted in acceptance. "So what if I don't like you? I don't like anyone, in case you haven't noticed, _Aegis_ ," he bit out sourly.

"Your little ninja friend told me good things of you. I am just surprised that you only show care for the Commander."

_Ninja. . . The only ninja friend I have is - !_ "You know her?" Joker asked, his hazel eyes wide. He hadn't spoken to Adhara in quite some time. They had sent messages back and forth, of course, but face to face? Not since she had somehow gotten Cerberus to revive Shepard and him to be hired as his pilot.

"Yes," she said simply. _She looks exactly like Adhara_ , Joker suddenly thought, and, as if she knew of his realization, Ira put a finger to her lips, giving him a secretive wink. "Tell my ninja I miss her, would you?" he said with a low chuckle. _Adhara, you sneaky son of a bitch,_ he mused, _Why do you have to look so different?_ He had a feeling it had to do with Cerberus.

-Z-

"EDI, get Garrus and Aegis to meet me at the airlock, would you?" Shepard said with a faint sigh. _This is going to be a fantastic mission. Why do I need two scientists?_ he thought with faint disgruntlement.

"I have notified Mister Vakarian, but I cannot seem to locate Miss Aegis," the shackled AI said, a hint of annoyance to her artificial voice.

Shepard pinched his nose bridge, _Seriously?_ "Joker, I don't suppose you know where our dear Aegis is, do you?" He wasn't being sarcastic, no, would he do _that_?

In reply, the pilot flicked open the comms to the Cargo bay. "Hey, Ira, Shep wants you up here." He flicked it back off and went back to surfing the extranet. A long pause.

_Was he pulling my leg. . . .?_ Shepard wondered.

"What did you need?" The Commander nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun to look at Aegis, who seemed to materialize nearby.

"Gorrammit! _Don't_ do that!" he said in a scolding voice.

"Yes, sir," the Phoenix replied, amusement completely unhidden. The once-dead man grumbled, pouting in Ira's eyes.

"This mission is mainly to test your abilities," the Commander said, "In a _team_ situation. Please stay with Garrus and me, so we can evaluate your abilities – and not your mech's, alright?"

A frown crossed Ira's face. "Sir, I feel it wise to mention that stealth and my mech are my strongest points. My frontal combat and Biotics aren't as advanced."

"What's your rank?" Shepard asked, sighing. He didn't believe that Adhara would send them someone incapable.

"The same as hers, but – "

"Ira, please. I trust that you are more than capable of fitting into our team. On later missions with us, you can go to your strongest points, but this is just to evaluate your 'weaker', as you say, abilities." The Phoenix acquiesced, sliding her helmet on with a faint hiss.

Like Adhara's armor – from what Shepard remembered, at least – Ira's was unique. It was, as she called it, Phoenix armor, a medium armor optimized for all classes and customizable. The helm's visor was a straight line, glowing a faint blue. One side of the helm had a silver-grey symbol on it – a line inside of a circle inside of a triangle. An odd symbol, but. . . Adhara had also had such a smbol, on the back of both her gauntlets. Perhaps it was the Phoenix symbol.

-Z-

On the surface of Korlus, Ira proved to be better than a lot of the N7s that Shepard had known. She was a crack shot and had the ability to evade easily when the Blue Sun or the Krogans got too close.

"You do know that having a Krogan, a Turian, _and_ a Salarian in close quarters might not be the best idea, yes?" Ira asked. Shepard made a disgruntled noise, giving a curt nod as he ducked behind a wall.

" _And_ that Mordin used to be Special Tasks?" That gave the Commander – and Vakarian – pause.

"How do you know that?" Garrus asked in a quizzical voice.

"Phoenix, remember?" Ira reminded gently.

"But. . . . You're telling us that Phoenix spied on the spies!" the Turian exclaimed. In his mind, what she was saying was utterly impossible. You don't spy on the STG without them _letting_ you.

"To a point." It was a non-answer, and everyone knew it. _Zenku. They spy on the spies – they spy on everyone. Zenku, the 'mercenary' group founded by myself, the people who keep society from stagnating, who keep the corrupt out of power when possible. We guard the whole – not for the greater good; no. No, Zenku stood for what was_ right _. Zenku took people from every species – even Yahg._

"What's 'to a point' supposed to mean?" Garrus asked, doing the Turian version of a frown.

Ira sighed faintly, then yanked off her helm. "Phoenix pays for some insider information, that is all. Phoenix is comprised of Humans – we do not have the ability to get into STG ranks, unless as experiments. Zenku and the Shadow Broker provide that information." The Turian nodded in understanding, but the Commander was confused.

"What's Zenku?" Shepard asked. Both Ira and Garrus had almost forgotten he had been dead – he just jumped right back into life so easily.

"Zenku is a merc group, Shepard," Garrus said, "They actually started spreading out from the Terminus systems about the time you, uh, died. Turns out, they were pretty much ruling the Terminus Systems before that – maintaining a façade of rampant piracy so the Council would keep their faces out of their business."

"A merc group did all that?" John asked in shock. His experience with merc groups was mostly that they _were_ rampant pirates, people that didn't even need to put up a façade.

"Surprisingly, they're actually good people. They couldn't touch Aria – or Omega – but the rest of the Terminus is mostly under Zenku's control," Garrus said with a shrug, "They, uh, helped me out a bit. They're pretty strong, too."

Shepard didn't know what to say. Sighing, he just made a note to ask someone – Joker, Ira, or Garrus – to brief him on important happenings of the last few years. Their new Phoenix said nothing to contradict the Turian, or anything really. She just followed when he gave the order to move forward.

Z-Z

John made a mental note to not get on Aegis' bad side. Despite her statements to the contrary, he was absolutely sure she specialized in widespread chaos. The Blue Sun mercenaries were _afraid_. Ira made it Hell for their enemies. She knew when to hit and how hard to hit without a word from John or Garrus. One hit from her usually meant the death of the one hit.

By the time they got to Okeer, a veritable massacre was left in the intruders' wake. The Krogan Warlord was pleased with their arrival, but rambled on about the Genophage and the worst insult someone could endure – being ignored. Shepard chose to allow Okeer's 'legacy' on the _Normandy_ , trusting his crew to be able to handle it if the 'legacy' became hostile.

Okeer died, securing his legacy, thanks to a neuro gas pumped into the chamber by Jedore, the woman who had ordered Okeer to create the cloned Krogans. She still died by the shore party's hands, of course. There was no love lost between Garrus and the Blue Sun, let alone with the Commander and Ira – both of whom had a bad past with Blue Sun.

John turned to Aegis as soon as they had loaded the tank onboard. "What do you think?" he asked, gesturing at the tank. The woman stepped forward, placing her palm on the glass between her and the artificial Krogan thoughtfully.

"I think he could prove to be a worthy companion, if he is as intelligent as Okeer believed," Aegis replied softly, staring first at the Krogan inside, then at her reflection in the glass. The faceplate of her helmet stared right back, unfamiliar and strange. _So long since you were last in battle-mode, Cree. So long since you were last in full armor and fighting for the lives of so many. . . ._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a new computer. It has a different version of Word that helps me when 'then' or 'than' is supposed to be put down. :]
> 
> ALSO . . . This chapter is rather short. It seemed like a good place to end it, but I'm already working on the next one.
> 
> A lot of you who reviewed guessed Adhara/Ira's husband correctly – It was indeed Viktor Krum. I also decided to explain a bit about the universes. DE:HR – the events in the game – will only be mentioned, as it was set in 2027, but there will be someone from the game in the story. :]


	3. The Second Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack, Horizon, a surprise, and more surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> . . . Okay, I’ve gotten quite a few Followers for this. I apologize for the extremely large update gap D: My plunnies have been breeding like crazy. Ideas for AC/HP, Halo/HP, DE:HR/HP, DW/HP, RE/HP, Dishonored/HP, DmC/HP. . . . So many plunnies -sighs-
> 
> And, readers, tell me if you want our woman to have an Animangi form. I’m leaning towards No, right now, but if you want, I will. There’s a bit of an explanation about HALLOW at the end of the chapter.
> 
> REMINDER: Shepard in this is a Soldier, Colonist, and both Sole Survivor/War Hero. He has the default appearance with bright blue eyes. Also a Paragade.
> 
> WARNINGS: Out of Character-ness; Cursing; Oddness in general; mentions of alcohol, sex, etc; Violence; Possibility of Confused timelines by author; unbeta’d-ness; Oh, and some Alenko-bashing. I don’t like Alenko. He’s too. . . Boy-scout-ish. And whiney. But I’ll tone the bashing down for those who like him. I’ll even give a reason for it. Maybe. 
> 
> SPOILERS FOR SERENITY AND LIBERTY TAKEN UPON THE ENDING OF SAID MOVIE.
> 
> Recommended: Burn It Down by Linkin Park, Am I Not Human by Two Steps From Hell

**_The Second Son_ **

**. . .**

Ira paced back and forth, irritated that the Commander had decided to retrieve this ‘Jack’ person with only Garrus and the still-unknown ‘Grunt’. He had refused her offer of taking a mech along, because of the stigma with AI. He also had prepared lightly, believing they wouldn’t be attacked. That alone made Aegis worried, because fate loved kicking their butts to keep them aware of everything that could happen.

Joker, of course, understood her worry. He understood a lot of things about her. It was understandable that a Blue Sun run prison was a big ‘ _be cautious’_ in her language. It should have worried Shepard, too, but the man was thick sometimes, thinking allies stayed allies the entire time. He was a straight forward man, and missed subtleties more often than not, which was another reason for him to be not so good at hacking or stealth.

“Stop pacing. You’re going to wear a rut into the plates,” Joker sighed, tugging on the brim of his hat. Translation, _Stop making me worry, too. Have faith in him._

“Sorry,” the woman replied softly.  Reluctantly, Ira slinked away. She would worry elsewhere, probably while upgrading or modifying her mechs.

As it turned out, Ira had a reason to worry. Being Blue Sun meant they weren’t willing to let a chance at a payday like Shepard pass by. As the crew waited for him to return, though, Aegis finally dozed off – getting back into the rhythm of war, of having loved ones going into battle, of getting sleep where she could. They were horrid habits and despite her attempts otherwise, Ra had never been able to break them. Thirty years and she still let her people go out and fight – let them go, knowing they could die. Every time she did that, it felt like a little bit more of who she was died – that the parts she played grew colder with each incarnation. At the very least, Ira grew a cold shield with which to protect herself.

Z-Z

Ira scowled at the strange corpse on the ground. It had four eyes – _Like a Conqueror did,_ her mind hissed – and an insect-like structure. Kovu took in its scent, clearing his nose with an almighty snort of disgust. _Smells wrong, looks wrong. What am I missing?_ she asked herself impatiently, narrowing her eyes at the creature.

“Aegis?” Shepard queried, disrupting her train of thought.

“Weak points are the eyes, the pink connective tissues, and fire, judging by the chitin-like exterior. They’re much like insects – or, at least, _this_ type is,” Ira explained what she had found easily, leaving out the _wrongness_ of the body. It wasn’t as if she had a specific reason for her to find it wrong, she just _did_.

“All that in five minutes?” Garrus asked, making Grunt snort derisively.

“You’d be surprised at what a skilled hunter can find in even _one_ minute, Turian,” the Krogan growled. Ira tilted her masked head at him in what appeared to be consideration. None the less, the Commander accepted the information Ira had managed to gather, moving onward.

In response to her discovery, the Phoenix added an incendiary modification to her weaponry, and let herself use Incinerate more freely. _Fire melts their outer shell, searing their nerve endings until they are virtually vegetables or ash and glue, yet they press on. Why?_ Ira thought angrily. Even mercs usually had the good sense to at least panic a _little_ when they were hit with fire or they saw their companions burning alive and screaming in their armour. _Why would these creatures care so little for their own comrades?_

Unless they couldn’t. Unless they were being controlled. As if brought out by her thoughts, one of the Collector’s began to shake and glow.

 **Assuming control,** echoed in her mind, more telepathy than over the comms.

 ** _Reaper,_ ** she hissed internally, almost casually bringing down the controlled Collector’s body in tandem with Kovu. _They can’t even do their_ own _dirty work,_ Ira sneered, glaring at the mess of Collector corpses that littered Horizon.

“Hey, you coming?” Shepard. Ira followed the Commander swiftly.

In her trail was death. Few of the Collectors gave her any worry, and she killed them swiftly. At least, until they met the Collector’s general, the Praetorian. Its weapon was not unlike a larger version of the Collector beam weapon Ira had pried from a dead Collector’s claws; it was also comparable to the beam that had torn the first _Normandy_ apart, killing both Shepard and herself.

It ate through even Ira’s more advanced shields with absurd ease, searing her armour and raising its internal temperature to a near unbearable level. More than once, she got in between the beam and her teammates, even Grunt, not wanting to risk their lives.

Ira made it all look coincidental, at least as much as she could. After all, it wasn’t like she _belonged_ in this time. It was only because she found HALLOW that she became. . . whatever she was. HALLOWed, or augmented, or cursed, or just. . . surviving.

A sudden mind-scrambling pain made Ira realize she had stood still for far too long. The beam had melted her armour and was currently searing – charring? – the flesh of her shoulder and back. With a hoarse cry of pain, she jolted away from the beam, but only after ensuring there was no one that would be hit by the beam. _Why did I lose focus? Stop it! Get back in the rhythm!_ she scolded harshly. She didn’t need to act like a story-book character, getting thoughtful in the middle of battle.

By now, Ira was regretting leaving most of her mechs aboard the _Normandy_ , as Alucard would have been very useful against this Collector. Still, she made do with the less-than-ideal support from Kovu.

First: Get out of the way of the beam; to do that, she had to get on top of the Praetorian and distract it from the others. Simple enough – Ra had done it in her first war, with Giants and Trolls; and in her second war with the Human exo-skeletons and defense bots. And now she even had Kovu to speed things along.

Without a word from his maker, the mech in question got into position. Aegis told Shepard to keep it distracted for a moment, then ran as fast as she could at Kovu, springing off of his back just as he began to jump. The momentum carried her up, up, and above the Praetorian, sealing its fate. With a feral smirk, Ira began to glow a dark blue, making herself heavier and heavier until – _WHAM!_ She collided with the general’s back. It skittered through the air, surprised as much as she had seen a Collector be.

 **What is this?** it asked, anger actually becoming apparent. Another smirk danced on Ira’s lips, but she said nothing to the creature.

 _Sectumsempra,_ she bit out, letting the magic seep through her hands and into the Praetorian’s shell. Large gouges opened up all over its shell, drawing a deafening and metallic screech from the general.

 **What are you doing? You . . .** the general trailed off as the Praetorian began to disintegrate. **You are _Wizen_. You will _die!_**

It began to climb up into the air, taking Ira up. The Reaper intended to make her fall to her death. With a small scowl, Ira watched the ground grow further and further away. _I’ll live,_ she thought almost bitterly, _Go ahead and try to kill me._ The Praetorian under her finally finished dying, sending her plummeting to the surface.

 _“-Ira!-”_ Shepard bellowed. The Phoenix winced minutely.

“Don’t worry so much,” she mumbled half-heartedly. About four meters from the ground, she cast a heavy _Repulso_ at the soil, slowing her decent. Three more times she cast it, and finally, she could drop without using her Biotics into the small crater she had made.

“You – Are you hurt, Ira?” Shepard demanding, yanking off his helm as the Collector ship left atmo.

In reply, she crumpled to her knees, gasping. _You’re getting excessively reckless,_ Ira thought with a dry chuckle, _You **are**_ _going to die here. Just not in the way it had intended._ Vaguely, she felt Shepard applying medi-gel, and realized – he was going to worry.

“Hey, Shep?” she croaked.

“Tell me later. Be quiet for now, alright?” he retorted almost immediately. Her gut clenched – both in physical pain and mental.

“No. I’m dying. There’s something –” she tried to say, but John cut her off again.

“You are _not_ dying. Not from _that!”_ he bit back, his voice cracking slightly. With a small growl, she tried to pry off her helm, but her fingers scrabbled weakly against it. Kovu let out a sad whine while Garrus and Grunt looked on silently.

“I’m sorry.” The mechanic they had rescued, the one that had told them of the defense system, was there, too. He was the one that had spoken up.

“No, no, we couldn’t – we tried but we couldn’t save them all,” Ira managed to say before Shepard shushed her again. The mechanic just looked away. She wondered if HALLOW was seeping into the wound yet. If it had stopped her from dying – or if it would let her die, then resurrect her. She hasn’t yet figured out why it varied.

“Stop talking. The shuttle’s on its way. Ira, don’t you _dare_ die here,” Shepard ordered, his voice rising in anger and helplessness. He knew that people have died from a less severe burn. He knew that the chances of Ira actually making it alive to the _Normandy_ were slim to none. That doesn’t mean he would let her _die_ here, without hope. That he wouldn’t have hope otherwise.

“Commander Shepard.”

Shepard squeezed his blue eyes shut tightly, trying to reign in a sudden burst of anger. “Go, Alenko. Just – Leave us alone,” he replied. _Why did Alenko have to be here?_

“No. Not until I get some answers,” Alenko persisted, a sharp edge to his voice – one that hadn’t been there prior to Shepard’s death. Oddly, Grunt stepped forward first, a snarl on his face as he, too, removed his helm.

“Why don’t you leave, human? You _clearly_ aren’t welcome here,” the Krogan spat out, teeth bared in a not-so-subtle warning.

“Not until I get my God-damned answers, _Krogan!_ ” Alenko retorted angrily, giving Grunt a fierce glare. The Krogan chortled darkly.

“You’re like a pup, puffing up in anger and swiping dull claws at everything,” he sneered derisively.

“Get lost, Alenko. You have no right to demand answers from Shepard,” Garrus added, also giving the Turian equivalent of a sneer.

“No right? No _right?_ ” Alenko hissed, “I thought Shepard was dead! I – You have no idea what I went through, Shepard.” His voice had grown quieter when he turned to address the Commander.

“Well, I _did_ die, so no, I don’t know what you went through, Kaiden. Please, go. Go back to the Alliance. Stop worrying about me – pretend _nothing_ happened.”

His words confused the ground team, but the sudden flare of hurt on Alenko’s face couldn’t have been missed by any of them. The Biotic’s face and eyes finally hardened, taking on the appearance of shattered glass – at least to Garrus.

“Fine. _Fine._ If that’s the way you want it, _John_ , I’ll go. Just don’t expect me to _help_ you the next time we meet,” Alenko growled, spinning on his heel and storming away.

Garrus looked back and forth between a dejected Shepard and the pissed off Lieutenant before shaking his head. _I think I missed something. Doesn’t matter right now,_ he finally decided, calling the _Normandy_ for pickup. Right now, all that mattered was getting Ira back on her feet . . . Or giving her a proper burial.

Z-Z

Chakwas reviewed her data pad, a frown marring her features. Ira was fine – mending far better than she had ever seen a non-Krogan heal – and it wasn’t because of the doctor’s doing. No. It was just as the Phoenix’s heartbeat was failing that an odd organic-mechanical material began to ooze out of the fourth degree burn area, spreading to the more severe fifth degree burn location.

The material in question seemed like slime, or perhaps plasma, and was in fact an odd silver-white colour. It shone in the light, holding itself tight over the wound. Nothing Chakwas tried had any effect on the material and since it had made its appearance, Ira had relaxed. A minty-metallic scent came from the material as well, reminding the doctor of healing for some reason.

“EDI,” Chakwas said, unconsciously looking at the AI’s holopad.

“Yes, Doctor?” EDI replied.

“Any and all medical information pertaining to Ira, Aegis, and any other Phoenix is hereby classified as my eyes only, requiring my express permission and presence to access. Am I understood?” Chakwas asked seriously. There was a long pause.

“Yes, Doctor. I will do my best to keep the information hidden,” EDI eventually said, an odd note of earnestness in ‘her’ voice. Chakwas nodded in acceptance, then asked the AI to inform Shepard and those concerned that Ira would be fine, but was not up for any missions or visitations.

The next thing Chakwas knew, the entire ship rang with the announcement. Apparently, everyone had been concerned, which was. . . odd. The doctor hadn’t been aware that Ira had managed to integrate herself into the crew, as the Phoenix was antisocial, to say the very least.

Perhaps things would go more smoothly this time around, with this new Phoenix.

Z-Z

Ira followed Shepard onto Illium, disregarding Chakwas’ orders to stay in bed and rest. She was two hundred years old, she could do damn well what she pleased! Soon after stepping foot on Illium, however, an Asari pulled her aside.

“Miss? Liara T’Soni asked me to escort you to her office,” the Asari said. With a brief scowl, she let herself be led – like a bloody _pet_ – to T’Soni.

When the opportunity showed itself, Ira typed a few ‘commands’ into an omnitool, and morphed into the form she took when leading Zenku. Amethyst eyes shone from under vibrant red hair, scars vanishing from sight and her skin darkening to a sun-kissed gold. She had also made it change with a vibrant orange gradient, as if she had worn a hologram over herself.

It thankfully didn’t take too long to meet Liara. The blue-skinned Asari dismissed her secretary, greeting the leader of Zenku warmly.

“Leader, I’m happy you decided to stop by,” T’Soni said with a smile.

“Informer,” Leader returned, a small smile dancing on her lips. No one in Zenku went by their name, only what they did. If a situation called for a name, it was usually an alias. Hallow was ‘Leader’s’ alias.

“I heard Shepard was alive and well,” the Informer said, turning to look out on the city scape.

“I keep my promises, Liara. You should know this above all else,” Leader scolded softly, frowning at the Asari.

“Pardon me if I sounded . . . ungrateful, Leader. It’s just. . . Shepard was _dead_ ,” Liara replied, “People can’t come back to life, like magic.”

“Technology and credits can achieve almost anything now, Liara.” Before Leader could continue, the Informer’s omnitool beeped.

“What was the saying you Humans have? Speak of the demon and he will come?” Liara half-asked as the doors slid open to reveal Shepard, Garrus, and Mordin.

“Liara. It’s good to see you,” Shepard greeted neutrally, his encounter with Alenko fresh on his mind. Liara greeted him warmly, hugging him.

“Perhaps I should leave,” Leader said, already intent on doing so.

“Nonsense, Hal . . . Shepard, this is my friend, Hal. Hal, this is Commander Shepard,” Liara insisted. ‘Hal’ scowled at Liara, not wanting to have to lie to Shepard.

“I’m sorry if I was interrupting, Hal,” Shepard said, holding out a gauntleted hand. She took it, to be polite.

“You’re not. I was just making sure Lia didn’t do anything _stupid_ ,” Hallow replied, giving Liara a flat look.

“Like what?” Shepard asked, visibly amused when T’Soni flushed in embarrassment.

“Before she answers – we have something to take care of,” Hallow interjected. The Informer nodded in agreement.

“There is a spy,” Liara explained, “He belongs to the Shadow Broker. Can you look for him, Shepard?”

The Commander was cautious for a good reason. Taking out a Shadow Broker operative was no easy task let alone one that would have no repercussions. Eventually, though, he agreed, because it was Liara he was helping and not a random person.

The spy in question did indeed turn out to be the secretary, as Hallow had thought. The Asari had just been too eager, too subservient to be anything but suspicious.

When Shepard finally asked what Liara had been going to do that Hal considered stupid, Hallow sighed.

“Planning on killing the Shadow Broker. Informer, I’ll send three Lieutenants with you, alongside Alucard. That should be plenty to kill him,” Hallow eventually said, partially shrugging. Alucard was a mech with the ability to regenerate lost armour from his own internal stores, provided by his defeated enemies. He was also a psychopathic sociopath who seemed overly fond of the Asari for some reason.

“Who are you, Hal?” Shepard asked, eyeing her carefully. She cast him a small smirk.

“Hallow. It’s Hallow to you. At least until you get rid of the dogs trying to control you, then I’ll gladly reveal just _who_ I really am.”

Z-Z

Ira frowned at Shepard. “How did you find out about that?” she asked, even though she already knew. They had taken Grunt to Tuchanka, seeking a ‘cure’ for his ‘sickness’. Wrex must have told them.

“Wrex might have said something,” Shepard admitted.

“The fact that I had a son isn’t anyone’s business except my own, Shepard. Just . . . Leave it, _alright_?” Eventually, Shepard agreed.

 _It’s because everyone else is asking for something, before we die,_ Ira thought. _He thinks I would want to go to his grave before I lose the chance to. Why would I want to torture myself, going back there? I love my son, I don’t want to be reminded that he’s **dead**. Who **would**?_

-Z-

The _Normandy_ coasted along the edges of the Rim systems, trying to avoid startling the Rim ships too much. They were cautious of rogues, if only because they didn’t want to kill anyone if they didn’t have to.

Suddenly, a file opened on every station. A video. Of a woman pleading and screaming and dying. About Miranda and unspeakable horrors committed upon the planet.

“It’s what exposed Cerberus.” Those in the cockpit jumped at Ira’s declaration.

“W-What?” Joker asked, visibly shaken by what he had seen.

“Cerberus was the branch in charge of handling operations like these. When the Alliance found out. . .” Ira trailed off, letting them fill in the blanks.

“How do you know that?” Miranda asked bitingly, glaring at the Phoenix coldly.

“My mentor was the one who exposed it,” Ira replied blandly, giving the XO a calm look.

“The Grim Reaper was your mentor?” the ‘perfect woman’ sneered in disbelief. Ira said nothing, instead turning back to Shepard.

“I know where we can find out who broadcast that, if you’re interested in doing so,” she explained softly. Shepard looked back at the frozen video, nodding once.

“Do it.”

Z-Z

They approached the moon slowly, passing through the ion storm and remnants of other ships that were silent. Some looked to be very old junk heaps, others recently dead in space.

“Who is it that we’re meeting?” Shepard asked, looking through the windows curiously at the wrecks. Ira gave him a grim smile.

“Someone I’ve known for a long time,” she said simply, indicating where on the moon that the _Normandy_ should land to Joker.

“Am I the only one getting a bad feeling?” Joker asked quietly, doing as directed cautiously.

“No. Something _is_ wrong,” Ira confirmed, “He should have hailed us by now.”

Shepard’s eyes landed on a grounded Alliance wreck. It wasn’t in good condition, showing battle scars and had dents as if it had been rammed.

“Does your friend own any of his own ships?” Shepard asked, looking over at the pale-toned woman.

“No – Only a Firefly a friend of his built for him,” Ira replied, moving over to see what had caught his attention. At the sight of the ship, she frowned, then looked over at Joker.

“Land near the docking bay – it should be at the coordinates I told you. Shepard, may I go ahead alone?” Shepard stared at Ira, studying her. She seemed completely serious.

“Why would I let you go into a potentially dangerous situation alone while you’re still healing?” he asked, seemingly calm. He had no intentions of letting her go off on her own, not with the carnage around them.

“Because you aren’t used to operating on the Rim. No one is. You don’t have a Rim’s rig, nor their speech patterns. You don’t know their culture,” Ira stated easily.

Shepard shrugged. “I’ll stand behind you, looking pretty. You aren’t going alone, Ira, and that’s final.” His order made her grit her teeth, but she acquiesced.

She went out unarmoured, carrying only a pistol on her hip in a simple harness. Ira could tell almost everyone was surprised that she had such a thing with her, let alone the simple lower-class civilian clothes she had picked up on Illium. Things weren’t looking good.

Ira and Shepard were grim-faced when they entered a large area, filled with monitors and systems beyond Shepard’s knowledge. Blood was splattered on some of the screens and smeared on the floor.

“Ira . . .” Shepard started, but the odd woman just held up a hand.

“He isn’t a normal person, John,” she told him, her eyes hidden.

When she didn’t elaborate, Shepard settled himself, his blue eyes scanning the room nervously. Really, she was allowed to have secrets – he wasn’t exactly forthcoming himself. Distantly, he heard a shuffling sound.

“Cry!” a new voice called out, seemingly pleased.

They both turned to the voice – making John realize that Ira’s grey eyes now had a large amount of malachite-green in them.

A tanned man stood, leaning against a doorway he hadn’t noticed, pale from blood loss and hunched painfully over his middle.

“Hello, ‘Verse. What happened here?” Ira replied calmly. John frowned slightly, confused.

“Well. . . Your boy found out about Miranda, brought it to me. He found some data linking the Alliance to it, and had me broadcast it, so the Alliance couldn’t cover it up again,” Verse replied.

Ira frowned, her face creasing in confusion. “My boy?” she asked, glancing at John, then back at Verse.

“Mal?” Verse prodded, drawing his eyebrows together.

“Verse. . . Mal died during the Battle of Serenity Valley, on Hera,” Ira said slowly, as if Verse was delusional.

Verse shook his head. “Who told you that?” he asked, sliding over to one of his monitors.

John noticed his clothes were soaked in blood and silver shone through the hole in the back of his shirt. Odd.

“What do you mean, _who told me that?_ Are you saying Malcolm isn’t dead?” Ira demanded, a cold, biting tone in her voice.

 _Who would be that cruel?_ John wondered, frowning faintly. Letting a mother believe her child was dead was not something that should happen.

“Same as I told Mal _you_ weren’t dead,” Verse said bringing up a video feed. It showed a man limping through a hallway, obviously injured. More people were waiting for him – a girl, two women, and two men. And Alliance soldiers. _“-Let them go.-”_ The screen flicked to another man, this one also injured, but holding onto a radio. The soldiers parted.

“Where is he?” John asked when Ira just stared at the screen.

“I can ask Badger to send a wave to him. You’ll have to find a way to get to one of the outer planets. Alright?” The last question was directed at Ira, who nodded slowly.

Z-Z

 

Waiting for Ira’s son made everyone tense. Most of the crew didn’t know what they were doing, orbiting a Rim planet, and that made them twitchy. When another ship finally appeared, Joker told Shepard, who told Aegis, who in turn asked for Joker to hail them.

“EDI?” Joker asked as the ship drew closer. “Attempting to establish contact,” the AI replied quietly. It took a few long moments, but a video feed eventually popped up.

 _“-Who is this?-”_ Joker almost didn’t hear the odd pained sound that Ira uttered.

“This is the _Normandy_ SR-2. Are you the captain of the _Serenity_?” Shepard spoke, before anyone could. An uncomfortable silence yawned.

 _“-That depends. What does a core-ship want with the Captain?-”_ the _Serenity_ replied, suspicious.

Shepard turned to Ira, making a gesture towards the screen, but she stepped further out of view, pointing out the window to the planet or the _Serenity_.

“To be honest, one of my crew wants to meet you. A Phoenix,” Shepard replied after a moment, crossing his arms when the _Serenity_ was once again silent for an uncomfortable period of time.

 _“-What would a Phoenix want with a nobody like me?-”_ the captain of the _Serenity_ finally said.

“We’ll meet planet-side – three people each. Joker, can you send them the coordinates?” John asked of his pilot. “Yeah, they’re on their way, Shep.”

 _“-I don’t recall to agreeing to meet. What exactly do you people want?-”_ the captain demanded.

John stared at the feed, at the man and his female pilot, and smiled. “Honestly. . . I think you’ll have to see it to believe it.” John paused a moment, then shook his head. “Please, just hear us out planet-side.”

The captain grumbled and groaned, but he conceded.

Less than an hour later, John, Ira, and – after a long moment of thought – Alucard were waiting for the Firefly _Serenity_ to land. When it finally did, three people stepped out of it, another standing threateningly in the bay, making no effort what so ever to hide the guns he wielded.

“So. What did you want?” the Captain asked, crossing his arms as he stared at John.

The answer came in a flurry of foreign words from Ira, none of which John understood, but the captain apparently had, as he replied in a similar fashion. It went in for a few minutes before Ira raised her voice, it cutting through the air between them as she yanked off her helm with an air of anger John honestly couldn’t recall seeing before.

“It isn’t an Alliance ship!” Ira finally bellowed. The captain scoffed.

“If anything, my ship is a Spectre ship,” John pointed out quietly.

“Shepard,” Ira muttered quietly. He obediently went quiet, letting them talk.

“Look, Malcolm, the only reason I haven’t been looking for you is because they told me you were dead. I went to look for your _gorram_ body – I looked through piles of corpses on Hera to find out if you were any of the recognizable ones. . . And then I found your tags on a body, burnt and twisted beyond recognition,” Ira explained quietly, calmly, as if merely explaining how to plant something. That voice shook John. He looked between mother and son with trepidation, trying to figure out what he could do to help or if being silent was the best option.

Malcolm looked away from her, sorrow scarring deeply on his face. The two women that accompanied him looked at her – the older one with darker skin having an unfathomable expression while the younger pale woman had a serene smile in place.

“I’m sorry that you went through that, Ma. . . But I’m not sorry for fighting for what I believe in,” the Captain offered quietly. John had to strain to hear him. Ira’s shoulders heaved suddenly, and she launched herself at her son, wrapping around him as sobs heaved her body. The Browncoat held her tightly, turning away from the crowd watching them, trying to soothe his mother.

“They’re very happy to not be alone.” John looked at the small woman, a question on his face.

“They were both worried they would out live everyone they loved,” she told him knowingly, “And it’s much harder to live believing you’re alone than it is knowing there are others out there, just like you.”

“I’d stay with her, if I could,” John grunted lowly, watching the mother-son duo.

“And I would stay with mine, if _she_ helped me,” the mysterious pilot replied with a broad grin, gesturing at the equally small woman in Malcom’s arms.

John frowned, trying to figure out what she meant. “What do you mean?” he eventually asked. Her reply made his heart stutter.

“HALLOW.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About HALLOW: it’s only when she dies and is resurrected that she losing some of her magic, while each time she would die but doesn’t, her Biotics increase by a much smaller fraction. Right now, she only has access to small bits of Combat Magic, Runes (which are a component of her mechs), about 3rd year Transfiguration, and around 5th year Charms. Everything else is inaccessible, including the more useful healing magic and possibly Animangi magic, depending on what you guys say. Eventually, all active magi will be inaccessible, while passive magic (like Runes) will always be usable.
> 
> HALLOW was intended as a combat augmentation for the Protheans, and hadn’t yet been tested on the full side-effects. No one knows the full extent of it yet (Including me, at this moment). It IS genetically inheritable, but not to its full potential.
> 
> Hmm. . . Her names/faces might be becoming a bit confusing for some of you. . . So, I constructed this to help out:
> 
> Name: Eyes, Hair; Accent; Affiliation; Status  
> i. Adhara Grimm: Red Eyes, Black Hair; Mixed; Phoenix; Inactive  
> ii. Aegis, Ira: Grey Eyes, White Hair; Russian; Phoenix, Zenku; Active  
> iii. Hallow, Leader: Violet Eyes, Red Hair; Scottish; Zenku; N/A  
> iv. Cree Reynolds: Green Eyes, Black Hair; Rim; Civilian; Classified as ‘Dead’  
> v. Chrysanthemum ‘Cry’ Krum (née Potter): Green-Silver Eyes, White Hair; Mixed; N/A; N/A
> 
> You can just disregard any specific statements as to what she looks like, I suppose, as well as her accents and just try to keep straight that they are all the same person, if it’s too confusing for you.
> 
> This will be at the end of each chapter, with additions as her faces change, if they do. Oh, and the Firefly/Serenity timeline has also been bumped back by . . . ~333 years. Obviously.
> 
> The next bit should involve . . . More. More of ME2, hopefully more of the other ‘verses. -sigh- And I’m sorry for the extreme author notes on this chapter.


	4. Secrets Shared

**A/N:** Yeah. I know. Over six damn months. I’m a bad author. I hadn’t even realized it had been that long. –frowns– And I’m still not happy with how _this_ chapter turned out. (And in previous chapters I had misspelled Myrddin as Myrrdin. Sorry.)

Anyway. **Tell me who Ra should be paired with** , or I’m going for a three-some or some xeno action :/ Or with no one just to make it easy.THERE’S A POLL ON MY FANFICTION DOT NET PROFILE FOR THE PAIRING.

And **TELL ME if you want her to have an Animangus form or not.** Otherwise she won’t. Or she might. I haven’t decided. But her kids _do_ have their own forms, even if they can’t cast spells – which doesn’t mean they can’t cast spells, just that they might not be able to.

**This chapter is going to be a lot about HALLOW, and very little about the missions.** In fact, I might just gloss over all of the missions except for the FOF one and the suicide one instead of trying to find a spot to detail them in. Unless you want a specific mission to be told, in which case TELL ME. (A curious sidenote for those who actually take the time to read this horridly long authors note: A ‘quibbler’ is also a purist. A perfectionist. Isn’t that interesting?)

**REMINDER:** **Shepard in this is a Soldier, Colonist, and both Sole Survivor/War Hero. He has the default appearance with bright blue eyes. Also a Paragade – willing to be ruthless against people who aren’t innocent yet still gives them a chance, kind to those who are innocent.**

**WARNINGS:** **Out of Character-ness; Cursing; Oddness in general; mentions of alcohol, sex, etc; Violence; Possibility of Confused timelines by author; unbeta'd-ness; ungodly long ANs**

**Recommended:** _Buried in Water –_ Dead Man’s Bones; _Imperitix Mundi_ – Jo Blankenburg; _I’m a God_ – In Strict Confidence

**_Secrets Shared_ **

**. . .**

The girl’s statement rang through the suddenly silent landing zone.

“You. . . told her?” Ira – or Cry, or whatever name she went by now – asked quietly, her strong voice suddenly weak.

“ _No!_ Of course I – ” the captain of the _Serenity_ tried to reassure, but he fell quiet.

John didn’t understand. What did Hallow – Liara’s friend? – have to do with Ira helping the young woman?

“She’s a Reader, Ma. Made by the Alliance,” the captain continued bitterly, blue eyes casting over the pale pilot. _What the hell is going on?_ John wondered, completely confused. Malcolm’s other companion – the dark-skinned woman – seemed to know, but it was hard to tell, sometimes.

“I guess you must’ve picked up the broadcast, gone to Mu,” Malcolm continued quietly, making John strain to hear him again, “And. . . Mu told you I was still kicking. Guess I owe ‘im another favour. It all came out ‘cause’ve her, yanno. Never been more proud of a girl stickin’ to what needed to be done.”

John saw Ira smile slightly, also looking at the young woman, almost as if she were also proud. _Odd. . ._

“She wishes for HALLOW so she may stay with him,” the girl suddenly spoke, making everyone look at her. Ira’s proud look morphed into a flat mask.

“How much have you Read, child?” Ira – Cry? John would go with Cry for now – inquired, voice as flat as her expression. She stalked toward them, focused on them with an intensity that made John want to back away, but he stood his ground. If only so she wouldn’t think he was afraid of her. _Only afraid of what you **could** do, my friend, _ he thought grimly.

“I know HALLOW causes you and your blood pain. But . . . she cannot stand with him for so short a time when there is something she can do. Silver blood, ancient blood, singing songs for eternity. . . ” the pilot trailed off.

Cry looked to her son – _And it’s still weird to think that, with Cry looking younger than her own son,_ John thought – a small furrow to her brow. “She wants it,” his Phoenix noted.

“Mighty grateful she would, Ma, but she’s _seventeen_ ,” the captain replied meaningfully. Cry flinched, as if the number was significant – perhaps that’s when she had Malcolm?

“ _No!_ She is River Tam. Smart, and a weapon in form of a girl. She must protect the man who saved her from hell,” the pilot snapped out angrily, her face screwing up. A long, tense moment passed.

“Give yourself a few years, River Tam. Then, maybe. But I won’t now,” Cry eventually stated.

River’s face relaxed. “Sh- _I_ will. . . You promise?”

“I promise.”

**Z–Z**

They spent a few hours groundside, before Cry explained her current mission to her son.

“What if you get trapped on the other side?” Malcolm demanded, cradling a small chirruping mech in his hands. Cry had produced it from somewhere in the first hour. _Not worried about her dying?_

She shrugged, though, and merely said, “Then I’ll find a way back.” They stared at each other a long moment. A sigh escaped her. “I will ask you to locate a Liara T’Soni through Mu, and alert her to move plans forward if I’m out of signal range for more than a week.”

Malcolm’s face was still contorted in a scowl, and he said something in harsh language John didn’t recognize. Cry replied in kind, a frown on her face.

“So,” John started, turning to the Tam girl, “Reader?”

“Minds are open to her. She hears what the people think, even if she does not wish to,” the girl replied, large dark eyes studying him. “She can’t understand yours. Don’t worry. She likes the music.” _Music?_ “Mother is learning the music, but she isn’t like yours.”

_Mother?!_ John scrubbed his face, feeling a headache forming as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. _Focus on all of this later. Ask Ira later._ The Commander would rather hear her side before making any assumptions.

Finally, as the sun set for the planet they were on. Ira and her son said their goodbyes, leaving on their own transports. As soon as they got onto the Kodiak, John turned to Ira. “Who are you, really?” he asked, voice quiet.

She stood silent for a long moment, then a sigh fell from her lips and her eyes closed. “I’m a dead woman, John. I just happen to still be around to help the living.” She turned away, trying to ignore him. He wouldn’t let her.

“What do you mean?” The tone that came out was far harsher than he had intended, but he couldn’t take it back.

“You _heard_ Vigil. I’m over two-hundred years old, Commander, and I expected to die over a hundred and eighty years ago. I’ve had kids, yeah, and they don’t need me anymore. Hell, I’m not needed by anyone, really. Just what the bloody fuck am I doing alive if I’m not needed?” she burst out, angry and yet tired.

The man had hardly a second to process all of what she said – that she _was_ Ra – before his mouth started moving. A soft “I need you,” escaped him, before he could think of what that could be taken as. Hell, he didn’t even know what he had meant it as.

Ira visibly stiffened.

“Hell, Ra. . . Don’t know why I hadn’t noticed before, but Joker needed you, too – he’s been better since we found you. Or, since you found us, I guess.” Shepard paused, trying to gather his thoughts. _“Fuck.”_ He didn’t know how to say this. “Ra, you’re . . . someone I don’t like living without. But why lie?”

The older woman flinched, then sighed softly. “I’m two centuries old, and I haven’t stayed dead, Shep. I’ve gone by dozens of names and colours – that’s all I can change you know.” He white hair shifted to black, tan skin paling, eyes darkening to a near black brown. John’s eyes widened in shock, both at the change and the ‘staying dead’ thing.

“I want to explain – to you and Joker, at least. But not until I’m absolutely positive Cerberus will not know of my past. I won’t risk my children being hunted down by them, or my friends.” John got the feeling friends came after family, no matter what. He studied her carefully.

“You were – _are_ – Adhara, though?” he finally asked. She nodded. “And Joker knows?” Another nod. “Okay,” he said with a rogue smirk, “I’ll hold you to it.”

**–Z–Z–**

Odd, how things could turn out. John didn’t take her on every mission or job, though not for lack of want. He wanted to keep his crew in tip-top shape, after all. The side effects? Well, Chakwas now had a helper mech in the shape of a large butterfly that went by the name of Chou. The ship-side crew also seemed marginally less tense and Gardner’s food became better. Fresh produce – Asari and Human, mostly, with some Turian for the dextro-amino based crew – found their way onboard. Stories about Cerberus’ past atrocities began to crop up. About how even Humans weren’t safe if they opposed Cerberus’ anti-alien policies. Discontent about the Cerberus colours they flew began to rise, yet Miranda seemed oddly oblivious to it all. John merely smiled himself, doing nothing to quell the stories or discontent.

And then Tali’s dossier came to Shepard. He ordered Joker to immediately set course for ‘Haestrom’ with barely another thought.  He asked for Garrus, Mordin, and Ra – including her mechs, because this was _serious_ danger – to join him on the ground, to be ready for possible Geth.

Ira met them at the Kodiak, a dull black mech-cube in her hands. John had only seen a few of them, as they were usually kept in a satchel when not in use. Chou also hovered along behind her, wings fluttering slowly.

“How many new mechs did you manage to make?” the Commander asked with some surprise. He hadn’t thought he had given her that much time off. . .

“Only the three, sir,” Ira stated. A short pause, and she ducked her head slightly, a smirk dancing on her lips. “And another is almost completed.” Definitely proud. He couldn’t blame her – building almost five mechs in the space of about a month ( _Has it already been that long since I woke up? Damn. . .)_ was a feat in itself, even if she already had all the materials and schematics prepared.

“How. . .?” Garrus trailed off, his voice incredulous.

“I don’t sleep a normal schedule. Mostly due to lack of strenuous activity the past few weeks.” Ira shrugged. “I had their plans and the supplies for them all ready, and . . . well, now we have a few more mechs.”

John found himself shaking his head in exasperation. “Sorry if I bored you,” he drawled teasingly.

“No, Commander. They were due to be constructed. The _Normandy_ ’s need for them merely accelerated that,” she assured him, a shrug lifting her shoulders. Silence fell as the four boarded the Kodiak bound for Haestrom’s surface.

As soon as they were on the surface of Haestrom, Ira dropped two cubes – the dull black one and the one Shepard recognized as Kovu – and watched as they unfolded near-silently. As soon as they did, all three mechs took off ahead of them. _She doesn’t verbally order them anymore,_ John realized abruptly, trying to recall the last time he had heard her order her creations. Perhaps on Thane’s recruitment mission? Yes. . . To find and secure all non-combatants after they first saw them being gunned down. But they had gone on at least half a dozen missions since.

While Kovu and Chou both strongly resembled larger versions of ordinary creatures, the new one didn’t. It was dull matte black like its cube,  about the size of an average large house cat, yet possessed deadly sharp-looking appendages similar to wings, but consisting of varying sharp petals instead of traditional wings. “That new one is . . . different,” John said, voice tinged with curiosity. Ira glanced at the new mech.

“Pounce chose his form. The others were made to suit their form,” Ira replied softly, “He wanted a form that could move easily. I gave him it.”

“So what’s he called? And what does he do?” Garrus asked.

Ira frowned behind her helmet, unsure of how to answer. “Mostly a combat sentry, compared to Kovu’s melee-based tactics. Interrupts communications, attacks from afar using directed plasma, but can still hold his own in CQC if necessary,” she finally answered.

“Directed plasma? That’s. . . possible?” the Turian wondered, mandibles flaring in shock.

“Geth utilize directed plasma in their Colossi,” Mordin pointed out, “Curious as to how Phoenix obtained such technology.”

The Salarian would have continued, but Ira spoke up when he paused, fully aware of how he would go into a long theorizing session if not stopped. “Just because every other race is perfectly content with relying on a technology we don’t fully understand doesn’t mean the Phoenix will. What’ll happen when all of the element zero is used up?” That made everyone fall silent, realization setting in for them.

The reason the Rim systems were completely isolated was because of that very thing – the Humans wanted to see if they could advance on their own, without using any eezo. Without using help from the majority of the galactic community. And they _could_. So they continued as such, trying to develop to a comparable technology level as the whole, but not quite reaching it yet.

“Do. . . Do you make the AIs yourself?” John asked, wanting to get away from that particular topic. Ira shrugged slightly.

“Most,” she admitted, “Not. . . all. Some are advanced VIs made into AIs by me, or found as self-made AIs by allies. Pounce in particular was found on the Citadel by a friend, before I had even met you. His software remained all intact, but we had to relocate him to a smaller bluebox. His personality wasn’t changed too severely, thankfully.”

_Well, that topic change wasn’t very successful,_ John mused, now wondering _how_ she managed to move an AI stationed in one bluebox to another without completely changing its personality. He refocused on the surrounding area, frowning when he saw dark Quarian red blood on the ground as well as Geth-white, yet there were no bodies of either kind.

“This is why you asked Chakwas for Chou. You _knew_ there would be injured Quarians,” Garrus said, voice oddly sharp.

“Yes.” The reply was simple, flat even. John felt the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“You knew, for certain, that we would encounter Geth, yet you didn’t warn us?” he asked before Garrus could formulate a response.

“We’re in known Geth territory. I thought fighting Geth would be obvious,” Ira replied, confusion tingeing her tone. They had never _not_ known what they were getting into before – why would they want clarification now?

John opened his mouth to reply, but realized she was, in fact, correct. They knew they would be in Geth territory, and they usually assumed things would go to shit at some point in time. “Right. Sorry. Just. . . on edge.”

“- _Hurry up!-”_ a voice hissed in their ears, distinctly male. Ira immediately started moving again, towards the blast doors.

“We’re outside. Can you open the doors without compromising anyone?” she demanded, tilting her head slightly. The other three of the ground team exchanged looks, confused, but assuming the voice had been one of Ira’s AIs.

_“-No.-”_

Ira rolled her shoulders, staring at the dented metal doors. No interface popped up, and she wasn’t getting a signal from it. “Very well.” She glanced back at them, her fist glowing a dark blue, slowly enveloping her whole body. “One distraction incoming. Commander, you’ll want to circle to the left, where the Quarians are pinned. I’ll go right and buy time for them to be evacuated.” At his nod, Ira lunged at the doors, making them crumple more, falling with little resistance.

_“RAAAAGH!”_ Ira bellowed, lunging at the Geth Prime she saw, blotting out the existence of everything but her objective. She didn’t see wide eyes directed at her, nor did she care that she left crumpled heaps of metal behind her.

“She’s . . . angry,” Garrus murmured in surprise. John nodded, trying to think back on what could have made her angry, but nothing came up.

“It’s nice to see more friendly faces.” The Commander turned to the Quarian that had spoken. The Geth had turned away from all the Quarians – numbering just over half a dozen – to deal with Ira, with little luck. She had even managed to find time to snap a large curved shield over the entrance they were taking a hold in.

“She’s. . . not usually like this,” John said, waving towards Ira, who was shouting incoherently as she decimated the offending Geth.

“They choose to serve Nazara. Therefore, they die.” Everyone turned to Chou, startled by its sudden statement. It hovered over one of many injured Quarians, thin silver legs brushing over the wounds, applying medigel, removing metal slivers, or sewing them up as needed, yet it was turned slightly to look at them.

“Nazara?” the Quarian and Shepard chimed.

“The one Saren calls Sovereign. Its designation to these Geth is Nazara,” the mech replied, its tone hesitant but its pale blue optics were wide in what could be called worry.

Shepard looked back at Ira, marveling. She was two-hundred years old. She had been in more wars than him, more combat. . . And her current style was brutal, effective, even against the Geth. He did wonder if all Geth served Sovereign, ‘Nazara’, or just. . . some. It was something to think about.

Two-hundred years old, being alone, and yet she was still here to help when needed. John wasn’t sure if he could have done that. But, he couldn’t really imagine her _not_ helping them. Everything would have turned out worse – he could have been forced to remain under Cerberus’ thumb, these Quarians would probably be dead, Garrus might have died before he had even managed to be ‘recruited’ as Archangel. . . Would he have even _heard_ of Phoenix?

“So, why is Zenku here now?” the Quarian asked, disrupting John’s chaotic thinking.

He started to correct him, but Chou spoke first. “Leader was worried when Machinist failed to report in. Spectre Shepard was kind enough to come with us, wishing to recruit Tali’Zorah vas Neema for a mission.”

John was . . . not happy. Very not happy, actually. _So she’s Zenku, too?_ He thought to himself angrily, but held his tongue. From the reception on Horizon, he knew that Zenku was better than Cerberus. _Why can’t she trust me with this?_

“Ah. We all owe both of you our lives then. I am Corporal Sin’Kirnay vas Moreh. Pounce vas Marauder has gone ahead, to assist Sergeant Kal’Reegar vas Leoni.”

Shepard’s omnitool beeped softly, making him frown as he turned to look at it briefly. _‘Please, forgive me for withholding that information. For now, let me take control of this. – Ra’_ He glanced up at Ira, still angry but willing to trust her with this, even if she didn’t trust him yet.

“The Quarians are allies to Zenku, Corporal Sin,” Ira said – not-Ira, different voice patterns, accent. . . John wondered if she was always like this, having herself be a different person around different people, or if that was new – almost gently, a slightly familiar rolling accent replacing the harsher clipped one, “You owe us nothing. I do wish the Flotilla had warned us they were going into known Geth territory, however. We could have saved more . . .” She said more, platitudes, assuring them Chou would do as much as she could to save the injured Quarians, then they moved on.

John waited until they were out of range of the team of Quarians behind them to speak. “So, Zenku, too?” he asked stiffly.

“You didn’t recognize me on Illium?” Ra replied, voice still in ‘Zenku’ mode.

He hadn’t. _Gorram son of a. . ._ Okay, then. Adhara was Aegis who was also Hallow. Liara’s _boss._ “I don’t do subtlety very well, Ira. I couldn’t even recognize you as Ra,” he said slowly, shoving down the urge to hit his head against a wall.

She slumped slightly. “Sorry, sir. I’ll. . . When I can, I’ll brief you on recent aliases and affiliations.” Ra know, even if Shepard didn’t realize it, how it felt to be thrown through a sudden realization, one after another. It wasn’t pleasant, by any means.

John merely shook his head. “Later. I realize you’ve probably had to rely on yourself the entire time before now, but you _have_ to trust us, alright? We have to work together and all be at our best in order to survive what’s coming.” He hardly noticed his wording. _Survive. Not live through, not beat, but survive._

“I can do that. I can trust you, I know that, Shepard. Just promise me we’ll paint the Normandy different colours – _before_ we go through the Relay.” A puzzled look crossed the Commander’s face, as well as the others of the team. This wasn’t really the place to discuss this, but as they were so far in the clear. . .

“What do you suggest?” he asked.

Ira tilted up her omnitool, displaying a simple symbol – a green triangle bisected by a white line, and encasing a grey circle. “Zenku. . . I remade it to help against the Reapers. I want to give those you trust a place in it, away from Cerberus. But Zenku is anti-Cerberus, and very thorough when clearing new personnel. Any you put forth that are still loyal to Cerberus and not you. . . will be put in isolation, and not allowed to fight.”

John tilted his head. He knew the Alliance and even the Council did not believe him about the Reapers. They would do nothing until it was too late. This was, by no means, an easy decision.

“I. . .” he started slowly, “I trust you – you know the Reapers exist. You want to _do_ something about that. So. . . alright. I’ll join. But everyone else will have to decide for themselves.”

Ira’s form relaxed, just enough to be seen.

Garrus and Mordin exchanged a quick glance, then also spoke up. “You saved my life more than once, and I’ve heard nothing but good from Massani. I’ll be honoured if you let me join now,” the Turian said quietly. Ira nodded to him, but then Mordin began to speak.

“Have also heard much of Zenku. Recruiters may be gruff, but . . . kind, as are its forces when necessary. We are able to leave, if we deem it necessary?” the Professor asked. Again, Ira nodded. “Then I shall see this organization myself. I accept your offer.”

John was actually quite surprised by how the journey to Haestrom had so far turned out. Ira was Zenku, and now so was he. The Quarians were allies, if not members, of Zenku. . .

_“-Ground Team, step up the pace. We are pinned down by a Colossus and two rifle platoons. I am not enough to protect everyone and disable the Colossus!-”_ a male voice snapped through the comms.

Ira cursed faintly, then drew out two additional cubes, dropping them with a dull _clank_ from each. They unfolded to be Moony and Prongs. Without a word from their creator, the trio of mechs – Kovu, Moony, and Prongs – leapt away at inhuman speeds.

John and his team followed as quickly as they could without exhausting themselves before getting into battle. Not a word was said between them.

It didn’t take long for them to find Kal’Reegar’s team. There were only five of them, all pinned down by Geth weapon-fire.

“Leader!” Kal’Reegar snapped a salute to Ira, then cast a look over the others.

“Sergeant. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” she said, crouching next to a Quarian female that was clutching her abdomen, blood seeping through her hand. She brought her omnitool – Prothean green instead of the common orange or the blue he had come to associate with Ira’s – and typed a quick message. “The others as well as our medic will be moving up as quickly as possible. I need all of your injured to move back into the security room behind us,” she ordered quietly. The Quarians started to move, helping the injured back up to the room.

Kal’Reegar stayed behind a moment to pass Ira his missile launcher. “Good luck, ma’am,” he said, giving her another salute. Ira returned it.

“Stay safe, Sergeant Kal. We’ll have Machinist out and safe soon.”

“So,” John started, “Who’s Machinist?” Silver glinted in the corner of his eye, making him turn to see Prongs impaling a Geth on his horns, then twisting in a feat of movement to kick a Geth Prime with his hind legs, sending it flying almost a dozen feet.

“Shepard. . .” Ira sighed faintly, nearly inaudible. “Liara wasn’t the only one I recruited after you left. I realized after speaking to Tali on the original _Normandy_ just how bad they had it, and offered them a hand with things. She joined Zenku and became Machinist.”

“Oh,” the Commander said, feeling suddenly stupid. Of course Liara wasn’t the only one. A small frown flickered on his face. Who else did he know that was recruited into Zenku, without his knowledge?

“Wrex is a big-time supporter of Zenku,” Ira continued, a small grunt leaving her mouth as she struck out with biotics against the Geth trying to swarm her, “Advocates us instead of Bloodpack, as we take care of our own. He’s not a part of Zenku, himself, but . . . well, hard to argue with the near-disbanded stated of the Bloodpack now.”

_“-I’ve almost finished rerouting the Colossus’ power,-”_ a male voice said into their comms, _“-I would suggest taking cover.-”_

“Pounce, we need that Colossus away from the door, we do _not_ want the building to collapse onto Machinist!” Ira yelled back through her own radio.

_“-Moony and Prongs are doing that. Don’t worry, Mother, we know what we’re doing,-”_ the mech replied, startling everyone with his use of ‘Mother’.

Everyone took cover where they could, Ira ignoring her sudden internal panic at being called the AI’s mother. An enormous explosion occurred on the other side of the area, but the ominous shriek of metal made Shepard’s team pause in their advance. The bridge between their section and Tali’s was partially destroyed, clinging delicately to the opposite side.

“I’m going to go on ahead and ensure she’s alright. Can you all try to find a different way around?” Ira asked, tilting her head at the other three.

“Yeah. Go on,” John said, diverting from his original path to loop around to the side. With a small jump and a flash of biotics, Ira was on the other side, jogging past the Colossus corpse.

“Leader?” Tali asked in surprise as Ra entered the ruins.

“Machinist,” Ra greeted quietly, eyes darting down to the mech that had sent the SOS as soon as she was within range, “Slyther tells me you’ve been busy.”

Tali nodded. “I wanted to bring Zenku in, if only for additional security, but the Admirals overruled me.”

“It’s not your fault. I’ll just have to speak with the Admirals later, perhaps when we go to drop you and your team off to the Flotilla,” Ra reassured her, glancing around the room. She approached on of the old consoles, fingers dancing over the interfaces despite the fact that it was in old Khelish.

“Hold on, how are you doing that?” Tali asked, just as the door slid open again to admit John, Mordin, and Garrus.

“Hey, Tali, you alright?” John asked, saving Ira the need to explain herself.

As Shepard, Garrus, and Tali began to speak amongst themselves, Ra concentrated on her distraction. Data on the old Quarians – and their Geth – was available, if one dug deep enough. The history of the Quarians and the Geth was a sad one. So much culture lost due to fear. . . And the Council’s actions in response were deplorable, displaying a distinct lack of care and proper judgment. With a final keystroke, Ra downloaded ancient music – and history – to her omnitool.

As they left – the Quarians gathering on their own dropship, as the Kodiak could not carry all of them – John put a hand on Ra’s shoulder. “We need to tell everyone _something_ ,” he said quietly. Ira frowned slightly, tilting her head. She didn’t understand _why_ they had to tell everyone something, but. . . she would, if only at John’s insistence. It wasn’t like they could kill her.

“I’m not going to tell them I’m the leader of Zenku,” she murmured in return, “But I’ll think of something that hopefully won’t result in being hunted down.”

As Tali and Shepard said their goodbyes to the Quarians – whose dropship had been escorted by the _Normandy_ back to the Flotilla, which was only a system or two away precisely so they could pick up the team when they had finished – Ira prepared what she was going to tell the ground team. She collected her medical data from Chakwas, just in case, and had EDI send a message to all of the ground team, including Shepard and Tali, to gather in the cargo hold. Hopefully Joker would be listening in, as he usually did.

“What the fuck are we all doing here?” Jack asked, a fierce scowl on her face as she looked around at everyone. Ira said nothing yet, merely staring at them from her position on one of the crates. Nearly everyone was present, except for Shepard, Lawson, and Taylor. She could guess why.

Finally, the late trio stepped into the cargo bay, Taylor and Lawson oddly stiff, but Shepard himself had the walk of a predator, languid and sure of his power. He prowled up to Ra, giving her the go-ahead.

“How old do you – any of you – think I am?” Ra asked first, looking over the crowd. Confusion was evident on their faces.

“About the same age as Shepard?” Miranda answered, her usual indifference overwritten by confusion at the absurd question.

“Anyone else?” No one offered a different opinion. _Alright, this is. . . a lot harder than I had thought it would be. . ._ “Did you know Humans had been studied by Protheans?” Ra asked, “Some of the more advanced actually being inducted into their Empire?”

“That’s bullshit,” Jack scoffed uncertainly. In reply, Ira let her eyes shift to a vibrant gold colour, tilting her head slightly.

“We had many things that are unexplained, mostly the origins of the tales of so-called magic. Of strange beasts found on Earth. Those were caused by the Protheans, then passed down through the eons. Earth was called Myrddin, according to Vigil. Are any of you familiar with that name?” Ra inquired gently, looking mostly at the Humans.

“Myrddin had been the name of a sorcerer, was it not? Originating long before Humans had even discovered all of their planet,” Samara replied, her head tilted slightly.

“Myrddin was the name of the Prothean General who had conquered the primitive Earth sentients known as ‘Wizen’. He eventually went into cryonic stasis on his planet, and would have been forcibly awoken about the same time this ‘sorcerer’ was estimated to have existed due to power failing.” Ra sighed, pinching her nose bridge as she tried to explain in a way to garner everyone’s understanding.

“He ruled over the remainder of the Wizen, which had interbred with Humans when the Protheans did not return and Wizen numbers declined. Eventually, he died. The Wizen did not. They still exist, albeit in ever declining numbers due largely to the prevalent wars over blood purity. I am one of few that ever manage to make it off of Earth alive,” Ra explained. _Truth. Mostly truth, with some lies. That’s how you make people believe you._

“How can we trust that what you are saying is truth?” Thane asked, staring at her unblinkingly.

Ra shrugged. “I can offer you the truth as how I have learned it. It would be up to you to decide if you believe it, but I must insist you do not tell anyone else of this. _No one_.”

“Alright. Let’s say you actually are part of a dying race that has existed since before the disappearance of the fucking Protheans. Why tell _us_ this, and why ask us how old we thought you were?” Jack demanded suspiciously.

“Shepard wanted me to tell you, to alleviate any rising confusion as we fight the Collectors and then the Reapers,” Ra replied promptly, letting her eyes fade back to the grey the crew had come to known.

“What confusion? You act fully Human,” Taylor asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“The injuries incurred from the creature – Praetorian, I believe they’re calling it – on Horizon would have killed any one of you. Even Grunt. Sometimes what should kill, doesn’t. I don’t know why, so please do not ask me.” Ra reached up to rub her face. “I can blend into the Humans with a colour shifting ability, sometimes catch glimpses of thoughts or intentions, even from non-Wizen and non-Humans. I only know of a few of the technical differences, I’m afraid. I’m also. . . old. Sometimes forgetful, but I have experienced much. Wars included.”

“And you do not wish to be left behind if you may be alive,” Samara offered quietly.

“No _._ Emphatically and most insistently _no_. I’m telling you all _how_ I’m different, or how I may survive where you do not so you _don’t_ try to save me. I will not have you risking your lives to try and rescue me when I could save myself. Even if it means leaving me on the Collector base. I have lived through peace and war, and I am content to die doing something like this,” Ra replied, her voice harsher than she had originally intended.

“Are you fucking _crazy_?” Jack demanded loudly, before anyone else could speak. “At very least, the goddamn King of the Boyscouts right fucking _next to you_ won’t leave you behind. The Justicar would be honour-bound to save your skin if she had the fucking chance!”

Ra recoiled in shock at the vehement reply, then rapidly shook her head, refusing to look at Shepard. “I don’t think so. You’d risk yourselves and whoever was with you if you tried to save me. I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I might be trapped on the other side of the Relay, and I’m confident I could find my way back with time, if I survive. I can’t promise that for anyone who may be stuck with me.”

“That doesn’t matter, because _no one_ gets left behind,” Shepard nearly snarled.

“Don’t make a girl a promise you know you can’t keep, John,” Ra said flatly, “You wanted me to tell them. I told them. I will not be chosen over them and I will not be responsible for their deaths. Do you understand?”

Shepard found he couldn’t answer her.

Ra looked over the ground team, eyes flat. “I’ve told you what I intended. Believe it if you like. If you breathe a word of what I am outside of this group, I’ll hunt you down. My kind does not want to be exposed and does not want experiments being conducted on their already limited number. Good day.”

The Phoenix – Zenku? – pushed herself off of the crate she had sat upon, stalking stiffly out of the cargo bay. As the elevator slid shut, she heard questions being directed to Shepard.

**–Z–**

It was just after Ra – Cry, at the time – had found out she was pregnant that she lost the one thing that had held her together throughout the Blood War. Her husband, Viktor.

_Early 1998. The War was slowing down – the Purists were losing. And they knew it. Desperation had begun to taint their actions. Only one person had the cure for the Collar, as it was colloquially known, and he was not willing to give it up. Voldemort ordered strike team after strike team to annihilate the Saviour, and every one of them failed. . . But they picked off her friends. People she considered family._

_A group of six – Cry, Viktor, Gabrielle, Luna, Padma, and Cormac – slid through the countryside of northern England like ghosts. “We shouldn’t have come this way,” Padma said, huffing slightly as she tried to keep up with the longer strides of Viktor, Cormac, and Cry, “It brushes far too close to Rowle’s mansion.”_

_“We had no choice. They were boxing us in,” Cormac snapped. They couldn’t apparate, either. Wards to prevent portkeying and apparition had been cropping up all over the country, and now you couldn’t use either method to get around without risking injury. The Purists were losing, yes. . . but the Defense couldn’t keep up this fight for much longer. With the Purists killing any who opposed them – as to the Defense’s non-lethal tactics when possible – their numbers were being decimated._

_“Shut up and run!” Viktor snarled at them, dark eyes glaring up at the partially full moon, then leading the group in a slightly different direction._

_They all ran for another fifteen minutes, then slowed slightly to allow rest even as they continued running. Except, it all went to hell._

_“I found them! Get your wands trained on the Demons, take them out before they escape!” The voice cracked through the chilly night air, shocking the group._

_“They found us! Corsair, Siren, get Marauder out of here! Cerynitis, Lotus, I want you both covering their exit and then evacuating as soon as they are safe,” Viktor snarled lowly, first to Cormac and Gabrielle, then to Luna and Padma._

_“Get your hands off of me, I won’t leave Kovu behind!” Cry growled at Cormac and Gabrielle, trying to yank her arms out of their grasp._

_“And I’m not letting you risk our children,” Viktor hissed lowly, stepping close to her. Her eyes widened in shock, and then sadness. Family was important to both of them, for different reasons, but still very important. “I promise, I’ll meet you at the rendezvous. **All** of you. I want to see my children born,” he insisted more gently._

_“Be careful. Let’s go you two,” Cry conceded quietly, taking off at a sprint. The fourteen year old Veela and the twenty year old ex-Hogwarts student followed at a similar pace. Cry didn’t want to think about the possibility of him not making it._

_When the ‘Demons’ – as the Purist so mockingly called them – finally regrouped, Cerynitis presented a gently curved wand to Marauder, eyes downcast. The once soft grey wood was stained in at least one area by something dark. Blood._

_“He. . . But he promised,” Cry had offered numbly, not wanting to comprehend what had happened to him._

_“He tried to keep his promise,” Luna assured softly, still incapable of looking Cry in the eye._

_“But he took a spell for me,” Padma nearly sobbed out, “I’m sorry, Cry, I’m so sorry!”_

_Cry didn’t speak, merely sliding bonelessly to the ground, arms wrapped around her middle, wands – her holly and Viktor’s hornbeam – clutched so tightly that she would find imprints of the handles upon her hands when she finally let go._

But he promised _, she repeated to herself, over and over._

Ira gently put the hornbeam wand back in her mokeskin pouch, a sigh leaving her lips. She had her reasons to act the way she did. All Ra wished was that they trusted her enough to listen those reasons. _And how to prevent us from losing this war. . ._

**–Z–**

Eventually, Ra approached the cockpit, where Joker and Shepard currently were. When they turned to her, she finally spoke. “We need to talk,” her eyes glanced over to Joker, “All three of us.”

With some confusion, the two men followed her to the elevator. “Is your cabin alright, Shepard?” Ira asked. In reply, the man pressed the button for it.

“Is something wrong?” Shepard asked in concern, sharing a quick look with his pilot.

“Well, people are being killed by Collectors, the Reapers are going to kill more, Cerberus is still around. . . You’ll have to be more specific, sir,” Ra replied flatly.

“You _know_ what he meant, ninja,” Joker grumbled.

Ira heaved a quiet sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s been a very hard day.”

The trio stepped off into the cabin, Joker immediately gravitating to the couch, Shepard trailing after him, and Ra following Shepard.

“Figured I’d just come out and say it. I can’t die by conventional means,” she said, letting her eyes wander around the room. It hardly looked like a living space. Too clean, too . . . not lived in.

“What?” Joker asked flatly, his eyes narrowed.

Ra started to pace.

“As Shepard already knows, I don’t have the lifespan of a Human. Thing is, I don’t have the lifespan of a Wizen either. Wizen tended to live about two hundred years – I passed that mark five years ago, and I still remain in my prime,” she explained, “Using the datadisks Vigil had given me on Ilos, I was able to determine the cause of this: An experimental nanotechnology created by the Protheans in an attempt to better fight the Reapers. I found the prototype on Earth, separated into three parts in order to prevent accidental activation.”

Her lips twisted in a slight sneer. “My people thought them to be objects of power untold, and if one could gather all three, they would master Death. Well, I’m still alive. Death is basically ignored. I’ve been killed more than I would like to admit, and eventually discovered that I gain more powerful biotics with each full death. Why, I’m not sure. This project was codenamed HALLOW, and made by a Prothean called Verell.” Ra paused, looking over both of them.

“I’m telling you this,” she continued when they remained silent, “Because I can transfer HALLOW. That is what the young woman in the company of my son wanted, Shepard. All three of my children are cursed to be frozen as they are once they reach a certain age, and will not die from disease, poisons, or age-related reasons. She wanted to stay with him until he died, to protect him both from himself and the universe.”

They could see where she might have been going with this.

“I want to give you HALLOW in order to fight the Reapers.”

“Why us?” John demanded first, rousing himself from the information overload.

“It makes sense,” Joker said before Ra could explain, “I mean, you’re the big damn hero, Shepard, and I’m the best goddamn pilot in the galaxy. And what are Reapers? _Ships_.”

“You both dominate in your fields – Joker can fly the best, and you are the best leader I’ve ever seen, Shepard,” Ra confirmed, “And I strongly believe that if either of you are lost, our chances of surviving the oncoming storm are a lot slimmer.”

The men turned speculative.

“What else can we expect from HALLOW? Aside from immortality and eventual biotics?” Joker asked, tilting his head at her.

“Pros. . . well, all injuries would heal rapidly. The more severe, the more likely HALLOW will actually show itself. No need to worry about common diseases of any species, drugs tend to not work properly. Includes caffeine and painkillers, unfortunately,” Ra explained, “And. . . With some practice, you can usually tell where someone is, if they also have HALLOW and if they are within a star-system.”

“And cons?” Shepard asked cautiously.

“I . . . You’ll have to watch your family age. Society will change around you. You will not be able to die so long as HALLOW is inside of you – and if you do wish to die, I’ll have to kill it and you to grant you death. I’m not sure if children produced by a HALLOWed man have it, either. It’s possible you’ll lose yourself, with time. It also won’t heal any injuries you were born with or received prior to age five, hence why I’m still blind in my right eye. You’ll generally be sturdier, though, so I’m not sure if it’ll cure you, Joker.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” the pilot asked, hurt in his voice. Any possibility that his Vrolik’s could be cured had to be worth it, didn’t it?

“Because I don’t want to force anyone into being HALLOWed merely because it _might_ cure your brittle bones,” Ra replied gently, “We have been researching ways to at least nullify the effects of Vrolik’s even before I met either of you, and the furthest we got was an expensive procedure to install carbon nanotubing into your bones, which could still be rejected.”

“We?”

“Phoenix, mostly. Some of the Zenku scientists were also working on it as a side project, when they found out Joker had Vrolik’s,” she explained, standing in front of them.

“I want you both to think about this – if you have family, you will have to stop seeing them after about a decade, because you will not have aged. They will ask questions, questions you can’t answer without risking everyone who has already been HALLOWed, including my children, and yourselves. If Cerberus found out about this, they would try to take me apart to get at the damn thing.” A small grimace graced her face.

“You would have to remain out of public eye, at least until I can craft something to help disguise you – you might not have to stay away from your families after a decade, actually, if I can just. . .” Ra shook her head. This wasn’t the time to think about things like that. “There’s also the trauma of dying in combat that you’ll have to watch out for. . .” Ra hesitated briefly, then continued. “Due to having broken my neck a number of times, I don’t like it when people touch my neck. I usually don’t like anyone touching any of my scars, either. Most of the time, you’ll only receive scars from a mortal injury, or, in my case, I transfer-scar.”

They frowned, thinking.

“What’s a ‘transfer scar’?” Joker asked.

“HALLOW . . . when I found it, the project wasn’t intended to be transferable from one person to another. I found out it still could be transferred by accident – namely, a friend of mine being seriously injured alongside me, but he would die and I wouldn’t due to HALLOW. Some of it transferred to him, and kept him alive.” Not that it mattered in the end, because he asked to die after his wife did. Stubborn fool.

“Just. . . Think about it, okay?” she offered, “Until you need me, I’ll be working on the Marauders.” Her mechs, so lovingly named after her father’s group.

“Alright. Thanks for sharing with us, Hera,” Joker said sincerely. Ra could only smile at the nickname, especially as she now knew her son was alive.

“I’ll talk to you both later.” She left, leaving the two of them to talk.

“What do you think, Shepard?” the pilot asked quietly.

“I think you should call me John. And I think I’m going to do it.” The Commander rubbed his face. “It’s just. . . I’m not doing it only for the Reapers. You saw how lonely she was, didn’t you? Hell, she’d be alone for centuries if she didn’t find people who cared for her.”

“I _know_ , Commander,” Jeff replied, sighing heavily. “Just to make her know she can trust us with this kinda stuff is worth it, wouldn’t it be?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it would be,” John replied, tugging teasingly on Joker’s hat. “So, you want her, too?”

Jeff scoffed, “You’d be a goddamn idiot to not want to be with her. She actually _cares_ about everyone. If she didn’t she would have just hid herself on Earth or some remote planet. And you would still be dead.”

“What?” the Commander asked in shock.

“Yeah. She’s the one that came up with the idea to use Cerberus to revive you – Phoenix wouldn’t due to the morality of it. Zenku might not have been enough. But with Cerberus doing it, she could also take the time to finally destroy the damn organization _and_ make sure you came back right. She didn’t tell you?” the helmsman asked in confusion.

“No. . . It probably slipped her mind or something. . .” John said halfheartedly.

“We’ll ask her when we give her our answers,” Jeff offered.

“Alright. Now then, do you know how to put these damn model ships together? I thought I would try it out as a hobby – but I can’t figure them out,” John said, gesturing to the clutter of parts on the table.

The pilot laughed slightly. “Yeah, Commander, I can help you out.”

**_–_ Zenku–Zenku–Zenku–**

**A/N:** Fair bit longer than previous chapters. 

For Ra’s group in her little memory, I went with codenames that I felt fit or were associated with their own names. Cormac got Corsair, because I felt his character was willing to do nasty things in canon, not to mention his eating habits. Gabrielle got Siren, because of the striking scene in the movie with her underwater and a Veela’s Allure. Luna was called Cerynitis due to the Ceryneain Hind, a sacred animal to Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon. Padma was Lotus, due to the Padma (a lotus flower) being important in Hinduism, a significant religion in India. Viktor’s Kovu codename comes from scar he received while playing against the national team of Africa (made by my will P: ). Ra’s ‘Marauder’ should be fairly obvious.

I couldn’t really think of a symbol for Zenku, as I apparently suck at new things like that. I kind of thought of doing a curved trident inside of a triangle – or just the Hallows’ symbol with the circle moved up towards the top so it was only partially visible inside the triangle, but that would have taken a lot to explain. So I defaulted to a symbol almost everyone should be able to visualize easily.

My reasoning for the colouration differences between them is this: Green symbolizes life – the brother who wore the cloak lived longest; White for wholeness/completion, which in this fic is only achievable via power, which the Elder Wand represents; Grey for a middle ground of white and black, of purity and secrets, the circle being more important than the stone itself as a circle represents unity.

Also. . . the mechs. In an earlier chapter, more specifically when Ira/Mecha/Aegis was introduced, they were supposed to be shown folding up into cubes about as big as a fist. I don’t seem to have included that, likely leading to confusion as to their transportation. So I included it here.

**I have a list of AIs** made by Ira – their name, form, primary function, and if they are currently active. Hope it helps.

**KOVU:** _based off of an Earth panther but about half-again as large. Named after Viktor Krum’s animangus form and even modeled after it. Primary function is close quarter combat and heavy vehicle disabling. Currently active._

**MOONY:** _Based off of a werewolf – Remus Lupin’s wolf form to be exact. Similar to Kovu, but has more speed and is intended to be a skirmisher, distracting most opposition from his creator and her team. Currently active._

**PADFOOT:** _Based off of Sirius Black’s animangus form, but half again as big. Not as fast or as large as Moony or Kovu, he instead focuses on one target at a time, taking them down with brutal tactics. Currently active._

**PRONGS:** _Yet another based off of the Marauders, Prongs is modeled after a large stag intending to represent Ira’s father. Prongs’ function is to scatter groups of enemies, to make them an easier target for Ira, Padfoot, and Moony. Currently active._

**ALUCARD:** _Alucard was made when Ira was just getting out of the Machine War, after her first two children had been forcibly exiled. She had been angry and far more bitter than she is now, and that transferred over to Alucard’s own attitude, rendering him cynical and uncaring of most others. He has a soft spot for his creator, as well as Liara T’Soni for unknown reasons. He is a vicious AI, intended to rip apart any opposition, utilizing any tactics necessary – even use of hardlight and plasma weaponry, which Ira has only installed on two other known mechs. Currently with Liara T’Soni/the Informer._

**CHOU:** _Modeled after a Queen Alexandra's birdwing, Chou is at least twice as large as the Earth butterfly. She – one of the few female AIs Ira has created – is also intended to be able to treat any field injury well enough to stabilize the patient until further treatment. She is capable of deploying a small hardlight shield around herself and her patient and defense via small laser weapons – which double as medical sterilization units – and a single plasma laser located in her ‘mouth’/proboscis. Currently active._

**POUNCE:** _Pounce is the size of a large housecat, possessing sharp ‘wings’ made from thin sheets of alloy metal. He is unique, in being the only AI not created by Ira, but instead given a platform by her. He had been created by a VI who was made by a man wishing to siphon money from Flux’s quasar machines, being discovered by Nihlus Kryik. Nihlus confronted the AI, and offered to find a way to move due to his friendship with the then-Phoenix ‘Grim Reaper’/Adhara Grimm. The unnamed AI had realized it was being given a chance, and accepted Nihlus’ offer, being transferred to a different temporary platform. The AI was lucky that it was mostly created with software instead of hardware, like most other AIs, and thus retained the majority of his personality and memory – as well as a staunch loyalty for Ira. Currently active._

**SUGAR:** _So named after the sugar glider – a mammal originating on Earth – it is based off of Malcolm Reynold’s little-used animangus form. It is a tiny thing, the same size as a typical sugar glider, and there only to provide communications/comfort to Malcolm to and from his mother. He is fully capable of knocking a full-grown man out via electrical shocks or an intravenous dose of modified Kolokol-1. Currently active._

**SLYTHER:** _Tali’Zorah vas Neema’s small snake-based AI platform, intended to provide a link between Zenku and the Quarian’s Flotilla. Excels at gathering information from any source. Usually worn as ‘jewelry’ by Tali, in order to preserve the secret of her existence. Currently active._

There. All available mechs as of the end of this chapter. Yes, I also provided a little extra background information, and neglected some appearance details. There are others, namely the mechs possessed by the head of each branch of Zenku, similar to Slither, but I’m not going into detail with them yet.

So, now that this is finished, I would love it if you PM’d me or reviewed if there was any confusion in this chapter or previous ones.

**Have a good one, my readers.**


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